Over the past decade, Universal Pictures has tried a number of times to create its own version of an MCU-like “Monster-Verse.” They’ve tried telling action-packed origin stories like Dracula Untold (2014); they brought in A-list actors like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe in The Mummy (2017), and they’ve shifted completely to the horrific aspect of their licensed monsters with Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man (2020).
While the latter has been their best attempt at a reboot so far, the traumatic and dark tone didn’t necessarily provide the spark needed to build a universe that appeals to the masses. Last week, Universal reached once again back to one of its oldest monsters and released Renfield, an action-comedy directed by Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War), and written by Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty) and Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible).
Renfield stars Nicholas Hoult in the title role and is joined by Awkwafina (Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings), Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Expanse) and of course, Nicolas Cage as the Lord of Vampires, Dracula.
The film follows Robert Montague Renfield (Hoult), and the mental health journey he’s facing from centuries of being abused as Dracula’s (Cage) familiar. Collecting victims for the vampire lord takes its toll, and Renfield is trying to separate himself from his master once and for all.
During his hiatus, Renfield meets police officer Rebecca, and after finding himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, during the crimes of local mobster Teddy Lobo (Schwartz), Renfield finds himself trying to protect Rebecca from the criminal gang while hiding from the bloodsucker who’s hunting him.
Starting with the story and style, Renfield’s writing is exactly what Universal should use to jumpstart a “Monster-Verse”. The story came from two writers that excel in the fields of comedy and horror, so putting their minds together and adding in the gun-fu style action that is extremely popular right now, was a genius movie.
The story itself was a fun, comic book volume 1-style one-off that would seamlessly transition to not only more stories with these characters, but with other monsters as well.
My only gripe was the two simultaneous storylines took away from one another rather than benefited one another. The Dracula story could have been a great start, while the side story about Rebecca and the corruption in the police force could have been a great sequel.
The acting in Renfield was a blast. For years, I’ve felt like Nicholas Hoult hadn’t come out of his acting shell, being mostly unexcited when seeing him cast in things. But with his performance in 2022’s The Menu and this film, he’s completely won me over.
With those two movies alone, Hoult has proven to me that he can excel at playing both someone detestable and uninspiring, and someone who’s likable, vulnerable, and extremely funny.
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It was also nice to see Awkwafina shine with a little more depth to her typecast sidekick role. This performance proved that she should be an actress that more directors look at regarding leading roles.
Ben Schwartz also killed it in his unlikely villain performance. He was still his typical, goofy, Ben Schwartz self, but in this movie, he had a downright nastiness to him.
Obviously, the star of the show is Nicolas Cage, an actor who has wanted to play Dracula for much of his career. Chris McKay allows Cage to be the fully unhinged, recognizable version of himself that audiences love to see. He’s unpredictable, manipulative, loud, and wacky. He’s exactly who Nic Cage should be, and it was so great to see it again in a major release role.
Some of the side characters were a little cookie cutter, and some of their jokes didn’t land, but there wasn’t much time to develop into more characters than our four mains, as the film was a well-paced (if not short) one-hour and 33 minutes. As the old saying goes, “We’re here for a good time, not a long time.”
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The film style was extremely well done. The fight scenes were crisp, and clean, and didn’t overuse the slow-motion Matrix and Snyderverse shots that have been weighing down action movies for the last two decades. Some very innovative deepfake technologies were used when showing Renfield’s and Dracula’s backstories, putting the current actors’ faces in old scenes from the original 1931 film.
While I was at first hesitant about the modern-day feel, it worked out well, and Dracula repurposing an abandoned charity hospital as his castle was a fantastic move, especially seeing him sitting on a decrepit throne made from a waiting room chair, surrounded by old blood bags.
I think one of the biggest surprises of Renfield was the incredible amount of gore, excellent-looking practical and digital effects, and fun horror-themed sets used in the film. Granted, there was plenty of CG blood, but it was mixed well and wasn’t as distracting as it is in a lot of more modern films.
I particularly loved seeing the gory prosthetics and makeup on Nicolas Cage’s face as he slowly healed from encounters that left him nearly dead.
I do think Renfield would be the perfect first stepping stone for Universal to finally get the ball rolling on a shared Monster-Verse that has a feel along the lines of the MCU or DCU (though maybe a little bloodier), but its poor box office numbers may turn heads away from the comedy style, and more towards the results of the two other Dracula-focused films releasing in the next couple of years; The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu.
Regardless, I had an absolute blast with Renfield, and completely recommend taking a bite and sinking your teeth into its fun absurdity.
