[Blu-ray Review] 'Renfield' Offers Plenty of Bloody Treats for Fans to Drink Up

​Its been months and I’m still mad that Chris McKay’s Renfield didn’t suck more blood out of the box office. The director behind The Lego Batman Movie delivered a vampire horror comedy that did for the character of Renfield (played here by Nicholas Hoult) what the aforementioned film did for Batman by giving him a richer emotional story while having a goddamn blast doing it. I don’t have a time machine that will let me fix the past—yet—so for now, we’ll just have to hope that Universal Pictures Home Entertainment’s recent release of Renfield on Blu-ray/digital will give the film a fresh life. It should, because there’s a ton for fans to sink their teeth into.
 
Written by Ryan Ridley (“Community”), Renfield takes Dracula’s (Nicolas Cage) vamp-hire, Renfield, out of the gothic countryside and plops him in modern day New Orleans. There, he and the caped bloodsucker find themselves in the “transitional” phase of their never-ending cycle together, Renfield rebuilding their life while his master recovers from their latest encounter with vampire killers. When Renfield saves traffic cop, Rebecca (Awkwafina), from members of the ruthless Lobo gang, he decides he wants to do good. But first, he’ll have to escape his toxic relationship with Dracula, as well as the claws of his newfound enemies, the Lobos.
 
Once again for those in the back of the graveyard; This movie is so. Much. Fun!
 
Transforming Renfield from a crazed servant of Dracula into a good-natured yet lost soul who attends group meetings with the goal of escaping his toxic relationship is one of those ideas so good, it’s surprising it hasn’t been done like this before. Throw in Popeye-esque super powers from eating bugs, loads of action and gallons of gore, and Renfield is a certified blast.
 
It all starts with a cast that fits perfectly into the shoes of their quirky characters. Between this and Warm Bodies, Hoult has made a name for himself playing sympathetic monsters to great effect. The actor brings a soulfulness to Renfield that we haven’t seen, something which others describe emphatically in the disc’s bonus feature, “Monsters and Men”. At the same time, he can exude a creeping sense of unease, whether it’s by cutting down bad guys or a strange laugh (his homage to Renfield’s of the past). Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz (who plays Teddy Lobo), are delightful in their roles. Shohreh Aghdashloo slays as Teddy’s mother and head of the Lobo family, Bellafrancesca, oozing a decadent aura of evil.
 
Surprising no one, it’s Nicolas Cage that steals the undead show with his portrayal of Dracula. The man was born to play this role. It’s not just that he was a toxic boss going through a vampiric change in Vampire’s Kiss (go watch it and thank me later), but the guy loves vampires. You can see it in the way he carries himself. In every line of dialogue. Right down to his sometimes manic, always captivating eyes. In the feature, “Dracula Uncaged”, Cage gives a wonderful breakdown on his appreciation of vampires, as well as the iconic vamps in film who influenced his performance. Fan-gs will die getting to see rehearsals in which the actor describes which icons inspired his movements in various scenes, to an extent that you’ll leave with greater admiration for Cage’s knowledge on the subject. Needless to say, he knows his stuff, and it shows in what I consider one of his most fun performances to date.

It helps that Cage is assisted by a blood-curdling makeup FX team that understood the assignment. McKay, bless him, wanted to include as many practical effects in the film as possible. As a result, Renfield is gushing with gore that, while nasty, is so extreme you can’t help but sit back and laugh. Like Robert Kirkman says in the behind-the-scenes look at the gore, “Flesh and Blood”, there’s “as much blood used in this movie as there was water in Titanic”. One scene has Renfield landing on bodies in an explosion of the red stuff that had me cackling.
 
While the action was the element of the film I was least interested in going into it, you can’t deny that Renfield delivers plenty of bone-crunching fights and inspired stunts. “Fighting Dirty” gives viewers a brief but informative look at just how much went into accomplishing the well-choreographed fight scenes and how hard the actors inexperienced in these types of films work to sell them. But that’s just the thing. McKay’s movie is by no means “perfect”—the crime family portion of the film bleeds clichés—yet there’s something for everyone here. Gut-splitting laughs. Blood-soaked action. Heartwarming themes of learning to love yourself by cutting out the bad in your life. Nic Cage showing his fangs with what might be the most unhinged portrayal of Dracula ever. Forget what other critics said, Renfield is a bloody treat. 
 
As for the Blu-ray? Fans are going to drink it up. Universal deserves applause for packing in over an hour’s worth of features that includes a must-see deleted scene of Hoult dancing with someone in a maggot costume. It should’ve been in the movie. The commentary can be a little exhausting since it features quite a few crew, but it’s refreshing getting to hear from sound editors and others who almost never appear on these things. Here’s hoping Renfield finds the cult following it deserves now that it’s on Blu-ray and rising from the coffin in your living room.

Renfield is now available on Blu-ray/Digital from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Check out the full list of special features below!

EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES ON DIGITAL, BLU-RAYTM & DVD: 

• Hilarious Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Alternate Takes
• Dracula UnCaged – Go inside the mind of a vampire as Dracula himself, Nicolas Cage, reveals the secrets behind turning a classic character into a memorable monster.
• Monsters & Men: Behind the Scenes of RENFIELD – An in-depth look at Renfield’s cast, sets, costumes and more as the actors and filmmakers reveal how they modernized a famous terror tale with trailblazing comedy and over-the-top action.
• Stages of Rejuvenation – See how special makeup effects bring the undead to life throughout the four stages of Dracula’s incredible transformation.
• Flesh & Blood – Exploding heads. Peeling faces. Severed limbs. They’re all part of the macabre movie magic that fuels Renfield with inventive action and hilarious horror.
• Fighting Dirty – Stunt coordinator Christopher Brewster leads a look at the training, choreography, and careful execution that goes into the film’s spectacular stunts and fight scenes.
• The Making of a Deleted Scene: Renfield’s Dance! – Nicholas Hoult and choreographer Kathryn Burns pull back the curtain on constructing an elaborate musical number for a fantasy dance sequence.
• Feature Commentary with Producer Samantha Nisenboim, Screenwriter Ryan Ridley, and Crew

By Matt Konopka