Prime Video Movie of the Day: Nicolas Cage finds a role to sink his teeth into in Renfield
Like we said in a Halloween horror review, if you want to know what Renveld is like then: “Imagine What we do in the shadows with a huge number of bodies and gallons of blood.” Nic Cage is Dracula in a role that chews necks as well as sets; Nicholas Hoult is the titular Renfield, his faithful servant who begins to imagine himself beyond the non-shadow of his master lives.
Funny, bloody and slightly exaggerated, Renfield is a lot of fun; the audience really liked it, and Nicolas Cage is always a great value. And it’s available to Prime Video subscribers.
Is Renfield worth biting into?
Yes. It has flaws, but when it works, it works brilliantly: it’s often very funny and there are some great scenes and performances. It’s uneven, but if you’re expecting some crazy Dracula-related Transylvanian silliness, that’s exactly what it delivers.
The agesaid: “The main attraction is Nicolas Cage’s stellar performance as Dracula, played mainly for laughs, yet indicating a careful study of his many predecessors in the role”, while FilmWeek on NPR, Los Angeles said it’s a “gorefest” where “heads really roll.”
Like the Horror Queers Podcast points out that it’s comedy first and horror second: Cage is “a campy banger,” but the story lacks… yes… bite.
But what about Renfield himself, the hero of this story? According to the Fort Worth Report, “Nicholas Hoult as Dracula’s faithful servant looks like a cross between a Marvel superhero and John Wick.” But it’s Cage we all want to see, among the “action, comedy and massive amounts of blood.” And his performance? “Fantastic!”
Honestly, the main reason it’s not on our list of the best Prime Video movies is because Cage doesn’t appear enough in it.
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