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Released by: Universal Studios
Released on: June 6th, 2023.
Director: Chris McKay
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina
Year: 2023
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Renfield – Movie Review:
Directed by Chris McKay and co-written by Ryan Ridley, Ava Tramer and Robert Kirkman (he of The Walking Dead fame), 2023's Renfield opens in New Orleans at a group therapy session where we meet Renfield himself (played by Nicholas Hoult). It turns out that he's tired of playing henchman for Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and having to do his bidding all the time and he wants to end this toxic relationship once and for all.
From here, we're treated to some amusing bits of background information on their relationship - done in the style of the original black and white Tod Browning Dracula film from 1931, but with Cage and Hoult in the Dracula/Renfield roles.
At any rate, the support group seems to be good for Renfield and, bound and determined to get out there and start a new, better life for himself, seems optimistic about things. From here, the movie gets unnecessarily bogged down in a subplot involving a cop named Rebecca (Awkwafina), the only one that can be trusted in the entire city. Her father, also a cop, was recently killed under some rather strange circumstance sand she wants answers. Renfield gets pulled into her mission.
Before it's all over, we learn that it has something to do with a drug lord named Teddy Lobo (Ben Schwartz) and, of course, Dracula isn't entirely out of the picture like Renfield's had hoped.
Renfield is an amusing enough watch thanks to some interesting ideas and fun performances. Cage, first and foremost, really throws himself into the role and whenever he’s on screen chewing the scenery in his own inimitable way, the movie is a lot of fun to watch. His take on Dracula is flamboyant and over the top and he really does a great job bringing the character to life. There’s never much of a sense of menace to his performance, but the movie is played more for laughs than anything else, so it works on the context of the story being told.
Nicholas Hoult is a pretty decent lead here. He’s sympathetic enough to work in the role and he plays the part fine. He and Cage have an interesting chemistry together and are pretty entertaining to watch. Hoult also has decent chemistry with Awkwafina and their relationship is interesting to watch evolve over the course of the movie, even if the subplot involving her doesn’t really wind up adding all that much to the storyline.
Production values are pretty strong, the movie is very nicely shot and makes great use of color. The score is pretty solid and while some of the effects work is obviously CGI, much of it is actually practical effects work and goes way over the top, providing a few enjoyably gory moments of splatstick dark comedy. Ultimately, this isn’t a perfect movie by any stretch, it goes in a few too many different directions for its own good and for that reason can feel padded at times, but when it’s on, it’s on and the movie gets enough right that fans of Cage’s sometimes delirious style should get a kick out of it, even if ultimately it probably won’t have much replay value for those who aren’t Cage devotees.
Renfield – Blu-ray Review:
Renfield arrives on Blu-ray on a 50GB disc in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition presentation with the feature using up 28.35GBs of space on the disc. Shot digitally, the image is pristine. There’s some very minor crush in a few of the darker scenes towards the end of the movie but otherwise, high marks all around. We get excellent detail and very strong color reproduction to complement accurate looking skin tones. Obviously, as this was shot digitally, there’s no print damage or dirt to discuss.
The main audio option on the disc is a 24-bit DTS-HD 7.1 Master Audio track in English, though a Spanish option is available in the same format and a 24-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is also provided in French. Subtitles are also available in all three languages. The English 7.01 mix on the disc is really strong. The score is spread out really nicely and many of the more action-intense scenes have some fantastic channel separation as well. There are a lot of sound effects used in this movie and they’re spread around really effectively in the mix. The levels are always properly balanced and as you’d expect from such a new movie, there are no issues with any hiss or distortion to complain about. There’s a lot of appreciable depth and excellent, deep, strong bass response noticeable throughout the movie as well.
producer Samantha Nisenboim, screenwriter Ryan Ridley and crew members Noah Cody who handled post-production editorial duties, supervising sound editor/sound designer Nancy Nugent, supervising sound editor/sound designer/additional re-recording mixer John Marquis, supervising digital colorist Dave Cole, visual effects supervisor Jamie Price and makeup/makeup effects Christien Tinsley. It's a fairly scene specific talk that goes over script changes, who did want as far as the writing goes, creating the old Dracula footage with the new actors in it, specifics of certain shots, what went into some of the makeup work, working with the other cast and crew members and lots more.
The disc also includes eight deleted and extended scenes (Lobo Compound & Murder Room, Renfield's Dance!, Mark Gives Renfield Advice, Newscaster, Lobo Gang Meets Dracula, Coda Kill and Apartment Fight) totally just under eighteen minutes in length, three minutes' worth of alternate takes and a five minute piece called Dracula Uncaged that lets different cast and crew members talk about how great Cage was in the role and what he was like to work with (with a few soundbites from Cage himself talking about what he liked about the role).
Monsters & Men: Behind The Scenes Of Renfield is a thirteen minute behind the scenes piece with involvement from Cage, Hoult, Schwartz, Kirkman and a few others talk about how the project came to be, trying to tell the Dracula story from a different angle, thoughts on the different cast members, casting the film, the film's sense of humor, where some genuine pathos was worked in, some of the effects work required and more.
Stages Of Rejuvenation is a six minute segment that explores what was involved in bringing Cage's Dracula into the movie in the various stages that we see him in over the course of the movie, from what Kirkman describes as "a BBQ state to his complete Dracula."
Flesh & Blood spends five minutes going over the movie's over the top gore effects and how they were created, where practical effects were used, some of the props that had to be built for these scenes, having fun with some of the effects work on set and the differences between the Dracula Blood and the Victim Blood in the movie.
Fighting Dirty is a six minute featurette that explores how the fight scenes were done, what the stunt department was responsible for, the influence of martial arts movies on these scenes, the training that was required for the stunt team and cast members and what was required to prepre for these scenes.
The Making Of A Deleted Scene: Renfield's Dance is a four minute piece that shows what went into creating the titular scene that was then not actually used in the final cut of the movie, but which is amusing enough in its own right.
Menus and chapter selection options are also provided. This release also comes bundled with a DVD version of the movie and comes packaged with a slipcover and an insert with a code that can be redeemed for a digital HD version of the movie.
Renfield - The Final Word:
Renfield is pretty uneven but it has some moments that work really well and it proves worth seeing for Cage’s performance more than anything else. The Blu-ray edition from Universal looks and sounds very good, and it’s got a decent selection of extra features as well. Recommended for diehard Cage fanatics, though the marginally curious might just want to stream it rather than blind buy.
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Renfield Blu-ray screen caps!
