Renfield – Review

Setting up the stage of the film, Robert Montague Renfield (Hoult) sits at a support group meeting for abusive relationship victims. He mulls over in his head how he got there, flashing back to his time in the late 1800s and meeting Count Dracula (Cage) in his Transylvanian castle. He was there to help with real estate documentation, and wound up as his familiar, or in this case a lesser-powerful, still human, bug eating man. Why does he eat bugs? Well, it allows him to tap into bits of Dracula’s power, of course. Moving on…

Now it is the modern age, and Renfield has helped his Count move around to avoid religious hunters which want him dead. After a bloody brush with a group of these would-be vampire assassins, the duo heads to New Orleans to setup shop in an old dilapidated hospital and find some victims for Dracula to get back to full power. Renfield feels somewhat bad about his boss’ desire for the blood of the innocent, and usually finds thugs and murderers to drag back to his master to feast upon. The problem is though, that their blood just doesn’t taste as good.

In the city, Officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina) looks to take down the Lobos, a notorious crime family. The youngest Lobo is a childish dipshit asshole named Tedward (Schwartz), who acts like an unhinged maniac, yet is too cowardly to do any of the dirty work himself. Quincy knows the Lobos took down her father, the former police Captain, and is looking to make things right.

As paths collide, Renfield saves her, and a bar full of innocents, from the Lobo’s hit squad, also injuring Teddy. With a taste of heroism and recognition, Renfield feels recharged and looks to take his life back from his torturous master. Will his self-help group wind up being the support he needs? Can he break away from the vampire’s grasp? Or… will everything just turn into a bloody mess?

Renfield can be pretty funny at times, and features a great approach to abusive relationships as presented in the film. That being said, it can also be hyper violent, and those not used to seeing limbs ripped off and used as weapons may not find themselves having a great time. Overall, the balance of the film is pretty good, however I feel like it never quite reaches the heights of its premise, and the story is a bit weaker than the actors really deserved. They all give it maximum effort, playing the insane and manic premise as a straight as possible, and there plenty of fun lines and moment sprinkled in to ease the tension. It is a bit over the top, but sometimes that is part of its charm.

Did I watch you cut a guy’s arms off with a decorative serving platter?!