This modern day Dracula story, set in New Orleans, puts Robert Montague Renfield centre stage. Nicholas Hoult plays the lawyer turned henchman to the vampire, played by Nicolas Cage . After decades of service, he yearns to be free of his master and to lead a normal life. When he meets traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), he sees his chance to do that.
This is a real treat for genre film lovers. Early on, in a flashback scene, Cage and Hoult are cleverly superimposed onto the classic 1931 Dracula. After that, there are several nods to earlier versions of the story. The main plot with Robert and Rebecca bringing down a drugs gang felt reminiscent of the fun action or police procedural comedies of the 80’s, such as Dragnet, K9 etc.
Hoult and Akwafina are fun in their roles, though they do lack a little bit of chemistry. Cage tackles his role, one he has wanted to play for years, with real relish and Shohreh Aghdashloo makes a pleasing crime boss.
Ryan Ridley’s script produces plenty of laughs amongst the gore, splashed liberally by director Chris McKay during some spectacular fight scenes, to enable Renfield to work on every level.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10