Shadows on the Wall

Renfield

dir Chris McKay
scr Ryan Ridley
prd David Alpert, Bryan Furst, Sean Furst, Robert Kirkman, Chris McKay
with Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones, Adrian Martinez, Camille Chen, Bess Rous, Jenna Kanell, Danya LaBelle, Rhonda Johnson Dents
release US/UK 14.Apr.23
23/US Universal 1h33

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While its blend of comical hyperviolence and snarky attitude isn't particularly original (see Deadpool), there's quite a lot of fun to be had with this film's witty mashup of never-scary vampire horror, crime thrills, romcom cuteness and self-empowering drama. Director Chris McKay establishes a wildly gothic visual sensibility that works in tandem with yet another riotously entertaining performance from Nicolas Cage. So the movie will definitely find its fans.

In New Orleans, Dracula (Cage) is regenerating, assisted by his familiar Renfield (Hoult). Seeking leads for bad guys to feed to his master, Renfield attends a codependency support group and begins to see his own situation in a new light. Meanwhile, local cop Rebecca (Awkwafina) is a rare straight arrow in a police force that's otherwise in league with the fearsome Lobo crime family run by a fearsome matriarch (Aghdashloo) and her twitchy son Tedward (Schwartz). When their situations collide, Rebecca and Renfield find themselves teaming up against what seems like the entire city.

Everything is fast-moving and wildly colourful, with lurid production values and outrageously grisly fight sequences. The story is essentially told through a series of high-energy set-pieces with only the odd quiet moment in between. But emotional stakes start to rise due to Renfield's semi-immortality and Rebecca's personal history with the police, as well as the cute connection between them. All of this plays out with a snappy sense of attitude and blackly absurd humour that delights in its more ridiculous excesses.

It's also brightened up considerably by Nicolas Cage's gleefully camp turn as the narcissistic Dracula. Even his smaller reactions are flat-out hilarious, and eerily underpinned with pathos, which helps develop strong chemistry with the charmingly hapless Renfield. Hoult's soulfulness makes us root for him even as he indulges in continuous carnage. He and the always enjoyable Awkwafina make a terrific duo, revealing a connection as they exchange deadpan zingers. And Aghdashloo and Schwartz have a lot of fun as mother-son villains.

The film is too derivative to be a classic on its own, but it's perfect for moviegoers who are just looking for energetic escapism. It rattles along briskly, leaping from one bonkers sequence to the next with buckets of blood, energy and humour. And the cast is hugely engaging, winning us over with their scene-stealing antics. But we never quite shake the feeling that we've seen all of this done in other movies, so the film becomes an uproarious ride we might not mind taking again.

themes, language, violence 11.Apr.23

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