Worst Boss Ever
Mix the legend of Dracula with the buddy cop action-comedy and you get something that looks like ‘Renfield’.
Renfield
Director: Chris McKay • Writers: Ryan Ridley, Robert Kirkman
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Adrian Martinez
USA • 1hr 33mins
Opens Hong Kong April 20 • IIB
Grade: B-
Despite the fact that Renfield cribs a great deal of its story from What We Do in the Shadows and the hilariously unhealthy work relationship between Nandor the Relentless and his familiar Gizmo, at no time in that series does Gizmo rip both arms off a bad guy and pistol whip some other bad guys with them. That’s just one of the many juicy, viscera-rich, gloopy action sequences in The Lego Batman Movie director Chris McKay’s (and, yikes, The Tomorrow War) horror-comedy about the world’s favourite vampire, as told from the POV of his hard-done-by, bug-eating assistant.
Let’s face it, the draw here is Nicolas Cage revisiting his role in Vampire’s Kiss, the one that kind of started him down his gonzo road, and in fairness, this is nearly ideal casting, and indeed, Cage delivers the smart-campy, OTT, cheekily aware version of Dracula we all hoped he would. The problem with the mostly diverting Renfield is the frou-frou McKay and writers Ryan Ridley (sitcom Community) and Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) surround the central horrible boss story with. We really don’t need yet another shoe-horned romance in our Drac drama. Gangsters and some vampire bloodletting on the side is plenty.
Cage goes Full Cage
As has been detailed in the trailers, we meet poor conflicted Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult, The Menu) in group. He’s working out his co-dependency issues while trying not to reveal much about who the other co-dependent party is. As in a century-old Transylvanian vampire. A clever black-and-white retro intro sets up their connection, morphing into garish colour as Renfield details the repeating cycle of peaceful existence and dinner procurements, Dracula freak-out and murder spree, near death and exile, currently New Orleans. Inspired by therapy leader Mark (Brandon Scott Jones, pitch-perfect) and the one honest cop on the NOLA police force, Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), Renfield tries to “go straight,” but Dracula sees this new leaf as a betrayal, and long story short he forges an alliance with the Lobo mob family (get it? Lobo?), led by Bellafrancesca (the vocally distinct Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Expanse) and her hair-trigger son Teddy (Ben Schwartz, the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog). A great deal of splattering follows.
Cage is the star, because duh, and when he and Renfield are bantering, pointing out each other’s affronts and shortcomings, when he lets loose with superior disdain, and when he turns on the classic vampire charm and menace Renfield really sings. And more gangster-y shenanigans with Aghdashloo’s mob matriarch would have been a boon to the proceedings; Aghdashloo makes everything better. But the suggested romance between Rebecca and Renfield and the scenes dedicated to just the two bring everything to a screeching halt. For all her divisiveness, this is not Awkwafina’s fault; the story thread simply doesn’t need to be there, and it’s just another demonstration of this bonkers, ceaseless compulsion for movies to sex everything up (preferably heteronormatively). There’s plenty to mine in the tension between Dracula and Renfield, and plenty of cop shit to play with if Rebecca is an old-fashioned cop-on-their-tail seeking revenge for her dad, murdered by the Lobos. Focus, people! It doesn’t kill Renfield entirely; the hyper-stylised fights (those arms), the ’80s DTV schlock vibe, Cage’s magnificent living kinescope make-up and a little retconning of vampire lore – while staying faithful – keep things interesting. And with a high gore-to-minute ratio, it’s doing better than Universal’s attempted reboot of its own legacy. — DEK
More Must-see Dracs
Andy Warhol’s Dracula (1974), d: Paul Morrissey
Watching the inimitable Udo Kier as a “wirgen” seeking Dracula out-manoeuvred by randy mansion handyman Joe Dallesandro never gets old.
Dracula 2000 (2000), d: Patrick Lussier
G.But, baby! A pre-300 Gerard Butler and his luscious mane (and Seven of Nine!) star as a biblically tragic Dracula in this underappreciated campy treat.
Blacula (1972), d: William Crain
Okay, not a Dracula per se, but according to this Blaxploitation classic African prince Mamuwalde and he were acquainted. And Dracula was a dick.