Renfield (2023)

Renfield is the rare horror-comedy that commits so hard to its premise you can practically feel the filmmakers grinning behind the camera: a centuries-long toxic workplace romance between a vampire and his long-suffering assistant, reimagined as a bloody, self-help-fueled break-up story. Chris McKay keeps the pace punchy and the vibe deliciously camp, splattering the screen with outrageous, cartoonishly graphic action while still giving Nicholas Hoult a surprisingly endearing arc to play. And then there’s Nicolas Cage, doing Dracula like a vaudeville nightmare—grand, petulant, and gloriously theatrical—turning every entrance into an event. It’s not for the squeamish (the gore is frequent and gleeful, and the language is spicy), but if you want a midnight-movie blast with real comedic bite, this one delivers.

Renfield is clearly trying to mash up a self-help breakup story with a gory monster-comedy, and when it sticks to the toxic Dracula–Renfield dynamic it’s genuinely fun. The problem is it keeps wandering into a generic crime-plot detour that feels like it’s hijacking the movie, stretching a thin story and making the pacing lurch between promising character beats and repetitive, overlong action. Nicolas Cage goes big in the best way and Nicholas Hoult sells the exhausted, abused-familiar angle, but the writing rarely sharpens its premise into something as clever as it thinks it is. If you want splattery, cartoon-violent mayhem and a few standout Dracula moments, you’ll get your money’s worth; if you’re hoping for a tight, witty horror-comedy with a strong plot, this may feel like wasted potential.