Looks Familiar

Renfield (Chris McKay, 2023)

The horror comedy Renfield (2023) is nowhere near as terrible as I feared, but it's hardly a great film either. It did manage to produce a few rare chuckles out of me. I'll probably forget most of it within a few days, though, and really can't be arsed to provide an in depth analysis over a mediocre film, therefore I jotted down my observations:

The story reminds me of the obligatory cut and paste (super)hero vs. gangsters formula, we’ve all seen before. This includes a matriarch crime boss and her idiot son. The only real noticeable change to the formula is the absence of a romance subplot between Renfield and whatever Awkwafina’s character was called.

It looks like a Rob Zombie movie. Ultra colourful interior scenes and washed out exteriors. Mix that with all the supernatural powers, and Renfield winds up looking and feeling like a campy comic book adaptation.

The bloody and gory digital visual effects are a mixed bag; some of it looks serviceable, while other times they appear ridiculously dated. Could have been lifted from a Syfy movie.

The film is set in New Orleans, yet I doubt anyone would even realise it. Looks like any other generic western city.

On a more positive tip, kudos to Nicolas Hoult for portraying the titular familiar with a degree of likeability while still immitating Dwight Frye's iconic evil laugh. 

Awkwafina was nowhere near as annoying as I expected her to be.

Cage predictably steals every one of his scenes as the Prince of Darkness. I'm wondering if he just wore his usual wardrobe on the set.

The biggest highlight came at the beginning of the film with the obviously remixed scenes from Tod Browning's revered Dracula (1931); easily the most impressive film reference/homage since The Great Escape scene from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Made me wish the rest of Renfield had been given the same treatment, too.

Mentioned the warning signs in an earlier post, but, like a moth to a flame, I was still drawn to it.