Mini Movie Review: RENFIELD (2023)
Renfield, Universal’s latest horror film in the Classic Monsters canon, hits theaters this weekend. I got a chance to see an early screening of the film a few days ago, and although it will inevitably get a full write-up in the annals of Horror Is Universal, I wanted to quickly give some spoiler-free thoughts here while it’s still a new release.
To put it simply, I thought this movie was fun as hell. As an update/reimagining/alternate retelling of the 1931 Dracula film—complete with a prologue featuring shot-for-shot recreations in glorious black and white—I loved how it paid homage to those versions of Dracula and Renfield while also digging deeper into the twisted symbiotic relationship between them. Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage are using Dwight Frye and Bela Lugosi as their templates, but the characters they bring to life are very much their own unique creations. Cage in particular is instantly a Dracula for the ages: morally and physically repulsive (the latter thanks to some breathtaking practical makeup effects), it’s a version of the character that we rarely get nowadays: a slimy, heartless, repulsive beast with delusions of godhood and a frighteningly effective knack for bringing out the worst in people. And that’s before he starts ripping throats out.
The balance of horror and comedy is a delicate one, and while there are moments where the comedy in Renfield falters, the horror is always on point and the overall balance is maintained well. With a runtime of 93 minutes, it zips along at just the right pace to keep you compelled while snapping between tense confrontations, dramatic heart-to-hearts, action setpieces with gore that Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson would be proud of and bursts of pitch-black humor. The horror and comedy are tightly interwoven here, with many moments that would be downright terrifying if not for their inherent absurdity. A standout example is one, um…memorable shot involving the secondary villain and a centipede which is going to haunt me for days, in the sense of “you genius bastards, how did you even come up with that sight gag?”
I do think the film could have structured itself a little better: the scenes involving the New Orleans police and their mafia counterparts take up more time than they probably should, which results in Renfield’s own story having a few dropped plot threads and unrealized potential. I personally would have liked to see something that was less overtly comedic and focused more on the horror elements, especially because the horror we did get was so well done. But in trying to be a good critic, I want to judge the film by what it’s trying to be, not what it could have done. It’s trying to be a gory, unhinged horror-comedy that doubles as a loving tribute to one of the greatest horror films of yesteryear, and it more than delivers on that premise. It’s exactly what I thought and hoped it would be based on the talent involved, and in the moment, I absolutely adored it.
Renfield is in theaters right now, and I’ll be back in the near future with new stories and articles for you to sink your teeth into (pun intended).
—Dana