Sometimes, I admit I find myself proven wrong. Often, it’s to do with the depths that human inanity can sink to. But sometimes, the world proves me wrong in a good way. For instance, I had the foolishness to think that perhaps Nicolas Cage had peaked last year with sheer heights of triumph and glory. Then I saw the trailer to this film, and I realized with a grin how mistaken I was.
Chris McKay brings us a horror-comedy going once again back to Bram Stoker’s quintessential novel—this time, it’s about the character of Renfield, the loyal cultist and familiar in thrall to the titular vampire lord. We have young Nicholas Hoult playing a servant of darkness who’s actually at least a century old, and is now questioning his relationship with his maniacal and monstrous employer, Count Dracula himself—played by, in a stroke of genius, Cage himself. And it’s not even the first time Cage has played a hammy vampire, because of course it isn’t!
The budget here isn’t high, but McKay does a fine job with what he has—I dig the look of the film, set in the various areas of New Orleans, between real-life crumbling abandoned hospitals to funky neon-lit bars. There’s even flashbacks recreating the old-time Universal iteration of Dracula, with Cage taking the place of Bela Lugosi, which actually work real well and are all kinds of fun (and hey, they could’ve had equal amounts of fun making Cage channel Christopher Lee also if they wanted). The filmmakers are clearly having fun with it all, so are the actors, and that all means that the audience is bound to have a bit of fun as well.
Hoult does a fine enough job as a man with self-worth problems, whose mannerisms and fashion take a bit of time to fully adapt to the 21st century. Singer Awkwafina plays the other side of our protagonist pair as a rather frustrated cop in a corrupt department, trying to confront organized crime and then a vampire menace on top. And even though Cage doesn’t really appear for that much of the film…yep, you certainly won’t be disappointed, as he gives us precisely what you expect even when caked in some (surprisingly well done at times) iterations of makeup harking back to all manner of vampiric aesthetic.
You have an overriding theme here of confronting toxic relationships…a theme that’s not subtle in the slightest. But it’s a film where Nicolas Cage plays Dracula, so to expect any shred of subtlety is to have needless to say the completely wrong idea. And hey, it’s a theme that most can relate to on some level, so between the hamminess and bloodiness, there’s also a little bit more to it underneath.
So yeah—in your face it may be, but I had fun, and if you’re in the right mindset, there’s plenty to enjoy on a couple levels here. Apparently this started out as a project for Universal’s aborted Dark Universe, which seemed to be bent on taking old horror icons, and then making boring and samey films about them. This one proves that you don’t need any of that—just panache, fun, and, of course, some good ol’ Cage Rage…with extra fangs.
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