At the center of the story is a man named Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), who looks young but actually has centuries of experience. A long time ago, a bad fate brought him together with Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). The ambitious Renfield was supposed to sell the earl’s estate and get rich on interest, but suddenly he himself became the object of a deal with the involvement of his own spirit. Dedicated to the service of a vampire, Renfield has renounced the family he once loved so much and has completely subordinated his life to his master.
But the foundations of humanity remain with him: Renfield, for example, refuses to drink other people’s blood, because he is pleased with insects, the eating of which gives him unprecedented strength. He also devised a cunning plan: the character finds potential victims for his master with the help of a support group for co-addicts, whom he visits with enviable regularity. Renfield provides Dracula with abusers who figuratively drink the blood of his band members – ex-boyfriends, spouses, parents. Like both yours and ours: it seems that bad people are less upset, and the world would not be so poor without them. True, Dracula himself is also not stupid, and he hesitates to drink the blood of bad guys, demand a few nuns or, in extreme cases, a bus with immaculate schoolchildren.
One day, while searching for new victims, Renfield witnesses a showdown between the police and a group of thugs. Rebecca (Akvafina), a woman in uniform, emerges braver than a large-armed mule crowd and conquers it. Refusing to bow to the bandits’ will, he inspires the hero to reconsider his own life – now Renfield intends to stop being Dracula’s hostage and break this vicious circle and take his life back. But it turns out that everything is not so simple, because the vampire also plans to enslave the whole world in general, dividing it into servants and masters.
Renfield was written by writer Ryan Ridley (Community) and directed by Chris McKay, creator of the latest hit. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The joint effort of two seasoned comedy writers is a daring and intriguing attempt to reimagine Bram Stoker’s classic story through a modern lens on dealing with abusive relationships.
The original Karpman triangle, in which Dracula is the follower, Renfield the victim, and Rebecca the savior, emerges, as it is he who initiates the inner reflection of the protagonist who has mastered only one skill over the centuries. – despair.
At first pretending to be a quiet conversation about something important, the movie itself takes a 180-degree turn pretty quickly, winking playfully at the viewer, and asking, “Are you caught?” Here, minutes of spiritual outbursts are replaced by dynamic (and very bloodthirsty) fight scenes, such that the church segment from the first “Kingsman” and the fight with the Japanese mercenaries in “Kill Bill” are tensely exchanged. on the edge. However, this quickly becomes boring, and the given tone of garbage turns into utterly kitsch.
The bloodthirsty excess is softened as much as possible with humor – the movie really has no issues. Fans of Community, Brooklyn 9-9, or After Party will recognize their favorite jokes and have a hearty laugh at the world of history, where even the scariest villain can be ridiculously funny.
The only regret is that the project copes a little less successfully with the dramatic component that is deliberately thrown into the background. It seems that each character has his own curve (except for Dracula, he is pure evil with no beginning or end), his own desires, and increased risks reflecting the scale of loss if the vampire wins. But the torn limbs and tons of blood spilled all over the screens seem to deliberately try to divert attention from the anemia of the plot, which sometimes forgets how important it is to be serious.
In the end, Renfield is the story of a weak-minded person who makes a pact with evil and suffers the most terrible punishment for it: he has seen with his own eyes the consequences of his own cowardice. But as therapy has taught us (and Renfield’s mentor in the group of abuse victims): there is a way out of interdependent relationships, evil can be overcome, and humor is still the best medicine.