As we said in a Halloween horror round-up, if you want to know what Renfield is like then “Imagine What We Do In The Shadows with a massive body count and gallons of gore.” Nic Cage is Dracula in a role that sees him chewing necks as well as scenery; Nicholas Hoult is the titular Renfield, his faithful manservant who starts to imagine living outside his master’s non-shadow.
Funny, gory and somewhat over the top, Renfield is a lot of fun; audiences liked it a lot, and Nicolas Cage is always great value. And it’s available for Prime Video subscribers.
Is Renfield worth biting into?
Yes. It’s flawed, but when it works it works brilliantly: it’s often very funny and there are some great scenes and performances. It’s uneven, but if you go in expecting some daft Dracula-related Transylvanian tomfoolery that’s exactly what it delivers.
The Agesaid: “The main attraction is Nicolas Cage’s barnstorming performance as Dracula, played mainly for laughs yet indicating careful study of his many predecessors in the role” while FilmWeek on NPR Los Angeles said that it’s a “gorefest” where “heads really roll”.
As the Horror Queers Podcast points out it’s comedy first and horror second: Cage is “a campy blast” but the story lacks… yes… bite.
But what about Renfield himself, the hero of this story? According to the Fort Worth Report, “Nicholas Hoult as Dracula’s loyal servant resembles a cross between a Marvel superhero and John Wick.” But it’s Cage we’re all wanting to see, among the “action, comedy and massive amounts of gore.” And his performance? “Fangtastic!”
Honestly, the main reason it’s not on our list of the best Prime Video movies is that Cage isn’t in it enough.
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