Our favorite eccentric screen legend (who basically did a test run decades ago in the mega-insane Vampire\u2019s Kiss<\/em>) plays the immortal bloodsucker as a charismatic seducer, a merciless killer, and \u2014 most importantly \u2014 a narcissistic asshole. That last part is where Cage goes the most batshit (pardon the pun), throwing self-centered tantrums that have him acting more like Dr. Evil than the iconic villain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most are directed at the title character (Nicholas Hoult, really getting his Hugh Grant on), his long-suffering \u201cfamiliar.\u201d (A flashback sequence places them in scenes from Tod Browning\u2019s 1931 Dracula<\/em> adaptation, with Cage gleefully stepping in for Bela Lugosi.) With both hiding out in New Orleans (shout-out to the late Anne Rice!), Renfield has been attending a church support group, listening to other co-dependents spill their guts about their toxic relationships. Renfield also finds these people\u2019s tormentors, chloroforms them and drags them back to his master. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Renfield gets a burst of confidence when he saves a cop (Awkwafina, acting like a female Ken Jeong) and a club full of people from getting offed by a gang led by the sleazy son (Ben Schwartz, obviously) of the town\u2019s big kingpin (Shohreh Aghdashloo, acting like she knows<\/em> she\u2019s better than all of this). He soon stops being at Dracula\u2019s beck and call and starts doing things for himself, like buying sunnier clothes at Macy\u2019s and getting a place that doesn\u2019t reek of dead bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A blood-soaked black comedy that really milks its one-joke premise, Renfield<\/em> practically takes a classic movie monster (and his poor sonofabitch of a servant) and \u2014 judging from an offhand Tumblr reference \u2014 drops them in what seems like 2013. Director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War<\/em>) and screenwriter Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty<\/em>) take the idea of Renfield breaking free and taking a big dip in Lake You (to borrow an old Dana Gould joke) and spices it up with hella-gory scenes of Renfield downing bugs and taking out baddies, John Wick<\/em>-style. Much like the chocolate fondue fountain at Golden Corral, blood flows all over the place. (BTW, the story was originally pitched by famed comic-book writer\/The Walking Dead<\/em> creator Robert Kirkman, back when Universal was trying to get that Dark Universe shit off the ground.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that\u2019s really all Renfield<\/em> has going for it. McKay and Ridley surround Cage and Hoult with a cockamamie plot and barely-written characters (most from the city\u2019s super-corrupt police department) that aren\u2019t missed when they meet their gruesome demise. Cage and Hoult are the only characters the filmmakers took the time to flesh out; you’re supposed to care about Awkwafina\u2019s revenge-seeking cop, but she plays her so obnoxiously, it doesn’t land. (What the hell happened to the sensitive subtlety she displayed in The Farewell<\/em>?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it is funny seeing Dracula\u2019s main minion learn how to love himself again \u2014 and Dracula becoming a petty little bitch when that happens \u2014 the viscous violence, brain-dead characters, and sinister-but-shallow vibe makes Renfield<\/em> the bloodiest of bloody messes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Renfield” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/renfield-2-1024x576.jpg\")
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