One part sincere examination of toxic relationships and one part goofy over-the-top horror/comedy. Overall, the movie is pretty fun. It's delightfully campy and gory plus the cast is solid. Kind of feels like the script was one or two drafts away from being a great movie (awkward pacing, obvious plot twists, and some underdeveloped characters all hold it back) but it's got some good ideas. Probably misses as often as it hits, but worth a watch.
I've wanted to play Dracula for years. The job of the actor is to enact mythos, and what better role for doing so than one planted so firmly in centuries of folklore. The vampire offers an embodiment for cascading swirls of fear and strife: guilt, sin, desire, class, garlic. I only wish someone had made a Dracula movie at any point earlier in my career. It could have been anyone. Even a family member. Sure, it was frustrating that no one related to me ever did that, but I just bottled up those feelings to add intensity to my performance here. And intensity to a lot of family gatherings over the past 30 years.
This movie is for me the equivalent of ordering a big juicy cheeseburger at the drive-thru, only to open up the wrapper and find there's only lettuce between the buns.
I wanted to enjoy it, I normally enjoy silly movies without asking for more, but here every facet of this film was so frustratingly lacking. I feel like with movies like these, I often come away with even just one thing, one scene, one portrayal, one smart idea, just something. But instead I came away with nothing, which honestly just makes it worse.
Rebecca and Renfield murder a bar full of gangsters. While escaping with Renfield, she then murders some cops.
Rebecca: You disgust me Renfield, because you're a murderer.
Though it's a trifle, Renfield is an amusing trifle, whose success I ascribe to some fun comic performances by Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz primarily, with an assist by the co-dependency support group. Nic Cage plays Dracula fairly straight, as a monster who hasn't changed much (the undead are so often stagnant, for obvious reasons) over the last century plus, and the movie scores some points by reframing the master-familiar relationship as a toxic one. Inspired by a brave cop, Bram Stoker's bug eater (who here gains superhero-level fighting ability when he swallows a fly) decides to take charge of his life, just when the Count is about to make a move to take over the world via a criminal empire in New Orleans, which has to have the most hand-wavingly corrupt police department on Earth. Because this is a comedy, they get away with a lot of characters just accepting this is what's happening. But the jokes land for the most part (though it has to be said that everyone is playing to type - not much imagination in terms of casting) and the gore is all sorts of ridiculous as part of the spoofing. The first trailer was a fun little mini-movie, and the full feature is an extension of that.
The movie has fun moments but the pacing is pretty bad and the characters and plot are mostly uninteresting. I'm also getting pretty tired of Nick Cage's wacky performances, he's kinda turning into johnny Depp in that regard.
Not a bad movie but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.
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Comments 1 - 9 of 9
americanadian25
One part sincere examination of toxic relationships and one part goofy over-the-top horror/comedy. Overall, the movie is pretty fun. It's delightfully campy and gory plus the cast is solid. Kind of feels like the script was one or two drafts away from being a great movie (awkward pacing, obvious plot twists, and some underdeveloped characters all hold it back) but it's got some good ideas. Probably misses as often as it hits, but worth a watch.Blocho
samoan
Nick Cage steals the show and is brilliant as Dracula. The movie si a lot of fun and really funny. I highly recommend it.Simon Lavender
Like the performances.Story was bland, especially first half and shame the
"Interrupted person" wasn't
Chloroform takes minutes not seconds
I liked the bosses son's character wasn't a stereotype I expected
LORD HORROR
Great movie, another great Cage performance well worth checking out.Aniform
This movie is for me the equivalent of ordering a big juicy cheeseburger at the drive-thru, only to open up the wrapper and find there's only lettuce between the buns.I wanted to enjoy it, I normally enjoy silly movies without asking for more, but here every facet of this film was so frustratingly lacking. I feel like with movies like these, I often come away with even just one thing, one scene, one portrayal, one smart idea, just something. But instead I came away with nothing, which honestly just makes it worse.
SpacedJ
Rebecca: You disgust me Renfield, because you're a murderer.
Siskoid
Though it's a trifle, Renfield is an amusing trifle, whose success I ascribe to some fun comic performances by Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz primarily, with an assist by the co-dependency support group. Nic Cage plays Dracula fairly straight, as a monster who hasn't changed much (the undead are so often stagnant, for obvious reasons) over the last century plus, and the movie scores some points by reframing the master-familiar relationship as a toxic one. Inspired by a brave cop, Bram Stoker's bug eater (who here gains superhero-level fighting ability when he swallows a fly) decides to take charge of his life, just when the Count is about to make a move to take over the world via a criminal empire in New Orleans, which has to have the most hand-wavingly corrupt police department on Earth. Because this is a comedy, they get away with a lot of characters just accepting this is what's happening. But the jokes land for the most part (though it has to be said that everyone is playing to type - not much imagination in terms of casting) and the gore is all sorts of ridiculous as part of the spoofing. The first trailer was a fun little mini-movie, and the full feature is an extension of that.Toastinator
The movie has fun moments but the pacing is pretty bad and the characters and plot are mostly uninteresting. I'm also getting pretty tired of Nick Cage's wacky performances, he's kinda turning into johnny Depp in that regard.Not a bad movie but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone.