Nicolas Cage is back sinking his teeth into the vampire subgenre (the first time since Vampire's Kiss) with his upcoming horror-comedy movie Renfield. This time the iconic actor stars as the legendary vampire Count Dracula, but he's not just any Dracula but the Dracula, who was initially immortalized on the silver screen by the late Bela Lugosi. However, if the wild first trailer is anything to go off of, it’s clear this take on the classic vampire is far from the black and white 1931 version that popularized the legendary bloodsucker. Renfield, directed by the Lego Batman Movie’s Chris McKay, carries a hard R with it, and in a new interview, he and writer Robert Kirkman explained why they wanted that rating for their addition to the ‘slapstick’ horror genre.
The upcoming vamp movie explores the complicated and toxic relationship between the Count and his assistant, the titular Renfield, played pitch-perfectly by Nicholas Hoult. After years of bringing victims for his master to feed on, Hoult’s character decides to quit his life of servitude, and is determined to break free from his immortal master. Though it has a funny premise, the new flick is not for the faint of heart, boasting violence, buckets of gore, strong language throughout, and some drug use. In a recent interview with Universal Pictures (via SyFy), McKay explained that he wanted to make the film a worthy addition to the “splatstick” horror category. The filmmaker said:
Splatstick humor has kind of been around for a long time. Movies like Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II kind of perfected splatstick humor. So I think that there’s a natural connection between humor and horror. And just from a structural standpoint, the way you develop a scare and the way you develop a joke oftentimes are the very same kinds of things. One is something that’s shocking and one makes you laugh. But yeah, splatstick horror has always been something that for me, some of my favorite movies have. Shaun of the Dead and things like that.
The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman’s original screen story outline inspired the script for the latest comedic take on the mythical horror monster. He said that he shares a similar opinion as McKay regarding the mix of scares and laughs present in the movie. Kirkman honed in on the importance of slapstick and how it helps keep the audience off balance, making the shocks more potent. He said:
They take you off balance, and they pull you out of yourself. That’s one of the reasons why they’re so appealing. And when I think you’re in that zone, you can’t help but laugh because you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this happened to me!’ So it makes the marrying of the genres really possible and really work when it’s done well because that moment when you’re laughing, you can kind of feel yourself, ‘Am I gonna be terrified here or is this gonna be funny?’ There’s a nice sweet spot where those two feelings converge that I think you can really hit.
Horror and comedy have had a long cinematic tradition of pairing well together. From 1914’s The Ghost Breaker to Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, to even television’s The Munsters and The Addams Family, scares and laughs have shared the screen since moving pictures began. Here are just a few more of the greatest horror comedies of all time that are worth checking out:
- The Cat and the Canary (1939)
- The Raven (1963)
- Tales from the Crypt (1972)
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
- Gremlins (1982)
- Chopping Mall (1986)
- Braindead (1992)
- Death Becomes Her (1992)
- The Frighteners (1996)
- Jennifer’s Body (2009)
- This is the End (2013)
- Happy Death Day (2017)
- Werewolves Within (2021)
It would appear that the filmmaking team behind Renfield knows precisely what they’re doing because, based on early reactions, audiences are in for a bloody good time. Many critics have pointed to the mix of disturbing violence and over-the-top comedy as a real standout at the cinema. In CinemaBlend’s review of Renfield, Mike Reyes called the movie a “charming and blood-soaked horror-comedy hybrid.” He also highlighted how evident it is that Nic Cage is living his best life getting to don the Count’s classic cape, which should be more than enough justification for fans who enjoy watching the actor let loose on the screen to crack open their wallets and buy a ticket!
Knowing exactly what they were going for, and the list of movies they'd be joining, seems to be paying off for the movie makers. They knew the tone and rating they were aiming for, and they had the wherewithal to hire the talent of Nicolas Cage, who is perfect for the role, to reintroduce Bram Stoker’s creation to the big screen. Maybe if Renfield is a success, Cage’s version of Dracula getting a solo movie could materialize. One can only hope!
You can catch this violent and hilarious vampire flick when it hits theaters on Friday, April 14, and in the meantime, be sure to check out our 2023 Movie Release Schedule to see what other films are hitting the big screen soon.
