YMMV / Renfield (2023)

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Do Rebecca and Renfield get together at the end of the movie? The fact that they both seem to like each other implies that they might be a couple by the epilogue, but nothing is ever confirmed. Rebecca is seen sitting next to Renfield during the final support group meeting, but they never kiss or do anything explicitly romantic. If they're not together, will they get together? It's plausible they're just taking it slow because Renfield just got out of a bad relationship, but them dating in the future is on the table. On the other hand, finding out Renfield is much older than he appears, and actually had a child who was far older than her, may have put Rebecca off, but she's still his friend regardless.
• Anvilicious: The movie compares Renfield's relationship to Dracula to a codependent relationship (romantic partners, employers and employees, etc) and how one can break away from said relationships and it is not subtle about it. Then again, you don't cast Nicolas Cage as Dracula and expect subtlety.
• Awesome Music: The second trailer is set to Radiohead's Creep.
• Complete Monster: Dracula himself, also known as the Prince of Wallachia, the Dark One, and the Lord of Death, is a narcissistic monster who has earned his various titles through his boundless cruelty and sadism. For decades, Dracula has feasted on the blood of humans, particularly enjoying feeding on the kind and innocent, and has slaughtered anyone who tries to stop him. Dracula also manipulated Robert Montague Renfield into becoming his immortal servant, keeping him in line through abuse and manipulation while forcing him to acquire new victims. When Renfield abandons him, Dracula tracks him down, breaks down his newly found self-confidence, and slaughters his support group, promising to kill many more just to spite Renfield. Tired of hiding in the shadows, Dracula allies with the Lobo crime family and turns many of them into familiars, hoping to expand his influence worldwide so that everyone is either his servant or his food.
• Evil Is Cool: Take beloved Large Ham actor Nicolas Cage and give him the role of one of the most beloved and iconic villains in all of pop culture, and you have the recipe for a delightfully funny, and legitimately scary, good time.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Plenty of people have expressed interest in the film solely to see Nic Cage as Dracula.
• Moral Event Horizon: Dracula is clearly an abusive and terrible master to Renfield, but he firmly crosses a literal moral event horizon when he devours the moral support group who was trying to help Renfield become a self-appreciating man to punish him for trying to become independent. The group was even shaken about this when their deaths were undone.
• Narm Charm:
  • Having Nicolas Cage as the movie's Knight of Cerebus is probably one of the last things you expect for a movie to do, but a lot of Dracula's moments are some of the darkest scenes in the movie, especially with the support group feast scene.
  • The CGI blood isn't the least bit convincing, but it adds to the movie's comedic value and no-fucks-given sense of fun. When you get awesome kill scenes like Renfield ripping a guy's arms off and Rebecca killing another guy with one of those arms, or Renfield ripping a man's face off, it's hard to care about how obviously over-the-top and fake the blood is.
• Nightmare Fuel: While the idea of comparing Dracula and Renfield to an abusive relationship seems funny on paper, it becomes significantly less funny in practice. Picture you're in a relationship with someone who routinely threatens the people you care about and always makes it your fault. Now picture that person being a literal unkillable monster that can rip people in half like a sheet of xerox paper.
• No Problem with Licensed Games: Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood is a pretty solid rogue-like, even if it's mostly a clone of Vampire Survivors.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Most of the movie's kills and gore are too over-the-top to be truly scary, and Nic Cage is hamming it up as Dracula. But if you take away all the supernatural stuff, Dracula's relationship with Renfield is a straight-up abusive one, and it is awful to watch. Vampires aren't real, but manipulative Control Freaks who prey on people's weaknesses and good intentions, put them in a position where they have much less power than they do and no agency to fight back, and keep them in line via fear and threatening their loved ones, very much are. Notably, the scene where Dracula confronts Renfield in his apartment, he doesn't even need to lay a finger on him to reduce the poor man to a sobbing wreck, going full Break Them by Talking and poking at Renfield's every fear, insecurity, and doubt to keep him in line. People who have been in abusive relationships have reported being triggered by the scene, because it's so accurate to how abusive partners actually behave.
• Squick:
  • During the fight between Renfield and the Lobos and corrupt cops, Renfield rips a man's face clean off.
  • Renfield kills Teddy by kicking him so hard that his entire skeleton shatters and all his organs come flying out of his mouth and ass.
• Tear Jerker: Most of the violence in the film is Bloody Hilarious, but Dracula's massacre of the support group is genuinely sad, as they were really invested in helping Renfield and were a big part in his efforts to get away from Dracula and be happy. It's very upsetting to watch as Renfield begs and pleads for their lives, only to watch as his friends are quite literally torn to shreds right in front of him. Even worse is when Mark, the group leader, dies in Renfield's arms. Fortunately, Renfield is able to resurrect them all in the end.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The editing tricks done to put Cage and Hoult in scenes from the original 1931 Dracula have been highly praised, especially the attention given to making Cage resemble Bela Lugosi's version while still having Cage's flair.
• The Woobie:
  • Renfield is a self-loathing mess who's trapped in an abusive relationship with a narcissist who could literally kill him with a flick of the wrist, who genuinely thinks he doesn't even deserve to be happy. The fact that he frequently looks like he's about to cry and has Nicholas Hoult's Puppy-Dog Eyes just adds to it.
  • The members of the support group are this by default since they, like Renfield, are codependent on people who have treated them very badly. Caitlyn in particular tearfully talks about her abusive ex-boyfriend, and is so messed up by everything that happened that Renfield opts to kill the ex, in his efforts to help the support group attendees by getting rid of their "monsters." Carol also has a lot of self-esteem issues, and admits she doesn't think she deserves a healthy relationship. And she never gets to finish a share!

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