Nicholas Hoult is the eponymous vampire "familial" whose job it is, is to cater for the needs of his toothy master (Nicolas Cage) who is distinctly under the weather. He is gradually tiring of the relentlessness of his tasks - especially as procuring food for his boss is becoming more and more difficult; as well having to rely on his own unsavoury diet of bugs - they give him super strength for a few moments. Meantime, the ballsy police officer "Quincy" (Awkwafina) is trying to finally nail "Teddy Lobo" (Ben Schwartz) whose mother "Bella" (Shohreh Aghdashloo) heads up the city's most ruthless gang of drug dealing hoods and who has bribed just about every city official. Serendipity takes an hand when "Renfield" comes across this officer in a...

Renfield is an okay horror comedy. It has a ton of potential with its excessive amount of blood and Nicolas Cage is worth the price of admission alone. The action sequences have all of their entertainment value sucked away by the end of the film; mostly because they all feel so similar. The humor and story reach a brick wall that the filmmakers refuse to stop pounding your face into.

Renfield is like the junk food version of a horror comedy. It has all the right ingredients for something that should be fantastic, but its recipe for action, comedy, and satisfying storytelling is imbalanced to the point of near disgust.

Full review: https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/04/18/renfield-review-bite-suck-not-laugh-repeat/

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ www.firstshowing.net/2023/review-chris-mckays-renfield-is-precisely-what-its-expected-to-be/

"Renfield is yet another movie that provides precisely what it promises - with an unbelievably ridiculous, purposefully silly story about the toxic relationship between Dracula and Renfield, expectedly elevated by the "OTT King" Nicolas Cage and an up-to-the-challenge Nicholas Hoult. The light, humorous environment leaves space for action sequences that are also intentionally excessive in all technical elements, which makes the entertainment levels inconsistent due to the continuous blend of quick cuts and outrageous amounts of blood. The dedication of the stunt team deserved better and much more screen time. Still, if ...

Over the decades countless movies, plays, books, comics, video games, and

television shows have depicted Vampires in various mythos which often include differences in behaviors, abilities, and, motivations. While there have been many Vampires, none have ever achieved the fabled status of Dracula who has been the template ever since Stokerss book and the classic original film as well as subsequent appearances. In the new film Renfield audiences are introduced to Renfield (Nicholas Holt), who recounts his past as an ambitious lawyer who ended up serving Dracula (Nicolas Cage) as a Familiar when his original intention was to close a real estate deal. After his Master is injured after another attempt by Vampire Hunters, Renfield reloca...

If not for a trademark over-the-top Nicolas Cage performance and a truly inspired fight scene in an apartment complex, Renfield would be a total disaster of a movie. Its certainly not any good and I wouldnt recommend it to anyone, and the real horror of it all is the way director Chris McKay blows what should have been a slam-dunk premise.

Set in present day, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) is the tortured, loyal assistant to Dracula (Cage). Hes served his master for decades, taking care of everything from getting his cape dry cleaned to procuring fresh prey for dinner. After centuries of servitude, Renfield is finally ready to move on and create a life of his own.

Although it is mostly dead in the water, the films pacing never feels slow. ...

Its been a while since I've seen Nicolas Cage in a role, I feel, does him justice. Renfield gives Cage the opportunity to shine.

His comedic take on Dracula combined with the "very English" performance, handed in by Nicholas Hoult, makes this film work, in spite of itself.

The comedic premise behind Renfield is highly original, I'd even say, quite clever. Whats not so intelligent, however, is the handling.

The potential for comedic flair and fun is drowned, in good measure, by the over the top, often rather grotesquely visceral, blood soaked, violence. Violence that's on the cusp, of the proverbial, splatter flick.

In summary, a moderately watchable film that leaves the compelling feeling, it could have amounted to more, with subtler, less violent, treatment.

Awkwafina should have been on the poster!

Not knowing she was in this, is what probably made me resist watching Renfield right away. She is the most watchable part of the film.

Maybe because the rest is not a revelation; everything that happens in the movie with Cage and Hoult, is just predictable vampire tropesthe trailer was enough for that.

At any moment, it was neither horror, nor comedy. Although, at the very beginning, the recovering Dracula is convincingly threatening; but not once he 'gains full power'. The excessive, exploding blood-works would have been funny, if they were selective with it's use. But they end up using it everywhere, even the kills that are meant to invoke fear ...

I was not expecting much from Renfield and it pretty much gave me exactly what I was expecting: a mediocre film that was nothing offensive but all too forgettable.

The screenplay is really all over the place. There are too many subplots and not enough time spent on the actual draw to the film, Dracula. Awkwafina's subplot was half baked and really did not go anywhere. I felt as though her character could have entirely been written out of the film to spend more time on Renfield and Dracula. The comedy is pretty bad. I do not remember laughing one time during the hour-thirty-minute runtime. There were clear jokes that they were trying to set up, but they just did not land for me.

Performances were fine. Nicholas Cage was great as Dracul...

Not bad, but I didn't really click with it enough.

Nicolas Cage is a nice piece of casting and delivers in the role of Dracula, as I'd expect to be honest... feels like a Cage sorta character! Nicholas Hoult and Awkwafina are decent, I've seen better from the latter elsewhere but her performance improves as this one progresses. Honestly, I would've reworked the film to revolve around Cage, rather than Hoult.

The story didn't really connect with me, as in I didn't get the required entertainment from it. It's alright, I just didn't really care for what I was watching - more like just acknowledging its existence, rather than actually sinking my teeth into what was happening onscreen. The humour could've been a bit stronger, too.

I app...