What’s not to love about Nicolas Cage hamming it up as Count Dracula? Add the other Nicolas (this time N. Hoult) to the mix as Mister Undead’s Personal Assistant and you have the makings of a red riot. In this respect, Renfield does not disappoint. The film well and truly earns its R rating with rivers and rivers of gratuitous gore.
Things begin as we join Renfield (Hoult) in a self-help group for people in co-dependent relationships. At first, he is just there looking for victims but soon realises that he has had enough of procuring the human blood bags that the count needs to survive and now needs the tools to form an exit strategy.
The subservient nature of Renfield’s occupation is played mostly for laughs. Even our darkest ideas of enduring the world’s worst boss seem a cakewalk compared to the indignities he has to face every day keeping the count feed. His lifetime contract of servitude isn’t helping either.
The camp nature of Cage’s performance is contrasted nicely by the doe-eyed Hoult. Their dynamic is hilarious as are the over-the-top moments of pure carnage. It might not be right to laugh at such raging rivers of blood but you just can’t help yourself. Having said that on the way home a super rare steak might not be the best food item to order.
Rob Hudson
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