Review: Renfield

Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) is Count Dracula's (Nicolas Cage) lifelong familiar. He tends to Dracula's needs so that he can return to full power. Renfield's been doing this for a solid century and finally realizes he's in an abusive relationship and longs to get out. A chance meeting with dedicated cop Rebecca (Awkwafina) might give him the push he needs.

Nic Cage as Dracula is going to be a huge selling point but for me, Hoult is what got me the most excited for this film. He's a fantastic comedic actor. He just came off one of his best performances to date in The Menu, and I'm glad to see him leading another comedy like this. 

Half of the time, Renfield is here to bring us gory over the top horror camp and that's when the film is at its strongest. Hoult is a great lead and his scenes with Cage are tremendously funny. Cage is in it quite a bit more than earlier reviews suggested in my opinion. It's not simply a glorified cameo.

Unfortunately Awkwafina's subplot just did not work for me. It's not written very well. There's a lot of plot convivences that come with it and I just wish it was written a little better. She and Hoult are good together at least, but there was room for improvement.

Renfield is a solid enough comedy that I think is definitely worth your time in theaters. 

B