Film Review – Renfield

Nicolas Cage is no stranger to playing vampiric characters, delivering one of his kookiest performances in 1988’s “Vampire’s Kiss.” However, for “Renfield,” Cage is tasked with bringing Count Dracula to life, not just an average lunatic, and the notoriously extreme actor takes the professional challenge seriously. Cage is most of the fun of the feature, putting in the work to create a nightmarish interpretation of the original creature of the night, but the film is more of a graphic novel-style experience than Bram Stoker-minded. Director Chris McKay has some experience in the world of cartoonish entertainment, previously helming “The Lego Batman Movie” and “The Tomorrow War,” and he gives “Renfield” a defined sense of silliness and acrobatic violence, going for a semi-lighter take on all the death that surrounds Dracula. There are elements to the effort that don’t connect as intended, but McKay and screenwriter Ryan Ridley try to merge action cinema with an absolute bloodbath, delivering a highly bizarre and periodically electric endeavor. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com