REVIEW: ‘Renfield’

The Legacy of Dwight Frye:

Dwight Frye’s performance in ‘Dracula’ has been hailed as one of the greatest performances in cinema history. Even so, he remains a relatively unknown actor. In the opening minutes of ‘Dracula’, Frye plays the mild-mannered lawyer who becomes the first victim of the eponymous count while delivering papers to him in Transylvania. It’s the character’s degeneration from an upright young man into a gibbering, bug-eating schizophrenic that gives the film its horrific punch, not Bela Lugosi’s cape and glare. Frye’s character’s name, Renfield, has become a way to refer to slavish, insect-like followers of a charismatic monster.

Nicholas Hoult, a fine British actor, succeeds Frye in a new film named after the character. However, he fails to deliver the intense performance that made Frye’s character so iconic. In ‘Renfield’, Hoult plays a depressed and guilt-ridden character, which makes him an unusual choice for the center of an ultraviolent horror-comedy.

The movie’s clear models are the hilarious Ryan Reynolds vehicles, ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Deadpool 2’. However, the viewer does not experience the same feelings that they did while watching them. There are moments in the movie that do make an impact, with comedian Ben Schwartz and Awkwafina both delivering exceptional performances.

Nicolas Cage plays Dracula, and although he has spent the last four decades being intense on screen, he has worn out his welcome doing so over the past two decades. Still, Cage manages to pull off some miraculous comic beats as his Dracula shows his skills of emotional manipulation.

Hoult’s Renfield is living in present-day New Orleans, slowly nursing Dracula back to health after a disastrous encounter with some exorcists. Although Renfield should be providing the Count with innocents, he has a guilty conscience and doesn’t want to hurt people. He attends a church support group for codependents and serves up the tormentors of these victims to Dracula using insects to provide him with superhuman strength.

‘Renfield’ is not a good movie, and it is not recommended.