Renfield (Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital HD)
Blu-Ray Reviews | Jun 11th, 2023
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Written By: Ryan Ridley
Directed By: Chris McKay
Studio: Universal Pictures
Buy On Amazon.com
A movie with Nic Cage as Dracula and ska jokes, what’s not to love?
Renfield is about R.M. Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), who has been working as Dracula’s (Nicolas Cage) assistant and familiar. In order to become immortal and get super strength, he eats bugs and insects. Renfield has been going to a support group since he’s tired from being his servant and feels like he’s in an abusive relationship. Meanwhile, police officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina) is trying to take down the local drug gang, Renfield gets mixed up in taking some of them down and then starts falling for officer Quincy. Yadda yadda yadda, they join forces to take on the gang and Dracula as well.
Once I saw the trailer for Renfield, I knew I’d at least check it out and I definitely enjoyed the majority of the movie. The fact that Renfield is repeatedly beating someone up with their own severed arms and then throws those arms into their chest is all you really need to know about this movie. It’s silly, over the top gore but nothing that makes you queasy. It’s like Monty Python gore to me. Nicolas Cage hams it up as Count Dracula. When doesn’t Cage ham it up for the screen? Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz have some funny lines. Whenever Ben talks now, I just hear Sonic now though. Nicholas Hoult plays the title character and he plays it fine. I guess his character doesn’t need to be overly outlandish, well besides the bug eating for super strength.
Before the theater release, I started to hear from my ska musician friends that they were asked to have their music in the movie. It ended up being The Slackers having their song in the movie. Then there was the funny intro scene when the movie was released that was making the rounds as well so I knew I wanted to see that. Fishbone, Mustard Plug, Voodoo Glow Skulls all got a kick out of it. Thankfully I enjoyed the rest of the movie since there isn’t a whole lot of ska stuff in this. I believe I saw on Twitter from the director that writer Ryan Ridley was the reason for the ska jokes. In hindsight, I kind of wish the scene wasn’t spoiled on the internet and made viral among the ska community though.
The rest of the movie is fun, with lots of action and fight scenes that put a smile on my face. The story itself is kind of weak and didn’t really care so much about the falling for officer Quincy thing but it is what it is. There’s enough jokes and fun scenes in here that I’d go back and re-watch this. I’ll probably put this one in my Halloween movie rotation.
I got the digital release to review but there are a lot of extras for the movie. There’s plenty of deleted/extended scenes, some funny alternate takes, featurettes on Nic Cage as Dracula, a featurette on the blood & goriness of the movie, the fight sequences and more. I particularly liked the alternate takes because it’s always funny seeing what the actors come up with different lines. I thought the guy that was wearing the NYC Ska shirt had a lot of the best lines for that scene.
Renfield is an amusing and over the top gory action comedy that will make you laugh. Or maybe not? I enjoyed the majority of this and I certainly appreciated the ska references and jokes as well. Seeing Nicolas Cage as Dracula was pretty great as well.
Features:
Deleted & Extended Scenes
Alternate Takes
Dracula Uncaged
Monsters & Men: Behind the Scenes of Renfield
Stages of Rejuvenation
Flesh & Blood
Fighting Dirty
The Making of a Deleted Scene: Renfield’s Dance!
Audio Commentary
Video:
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS-HD HR 7.1
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish
Bottom Line: Nic Cage as Dracula and ska jokes – nuff said!
Running Time: 94 mins
Rating: R
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:
