A fresh first trailer for Universal’s upcoming horror-comedy Renfield is here and it looks bloody hilarious. With a modern twist on the age-old story of Dracula (Oscar winner Nicolas Cage), this tale turns the spotlight to the powerful vampire’s loyal servant and titular character, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult, Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men franchise).
As the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss (Cage’s Dracula), Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.
While we have seen many iterations of the Count before, Cage’s turn as the blood-sucker has been met with immense anticipation. Speaking with Collider, Cage revealed that he is well aware of the high expectations that come with this role but, “how can you say no to Dracula[?]” and elaborated that, “he’s a character that’s been done well many times and then been done poorly many times. So you want to be on the side of doing something well. And also you want to be on the side of doing something fresh and something that pops.”
Talking about his influences for the role further, he explained that he brought elements of Christopher Lee’s iconic portrayals from the late 50s Hammer Horror Films, “We wanted it to be more homage, more Christopher Lee. I favored Christopher Lee as Dracula and I liked his kind of sixties hairdo.”
While we all can’t wait for Cage’s brilliantly campy turn at Dracula, he emphasises that Hoult’s titular troubled henchman is the focus of this monster madness, “the movie’s really not about me, Dracula rather, I don’t have a lot of screen time. It’s really Nick Hoult’s movie, and it’s about Renfield.”
After critically praised performances in exceptional dark comedies from recent years, The Menu, The Favourite, and The Great, you can expect Hoult’s comedic talents to be in full force for a frighteningly funny vampire classic.
From director Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie), a screenplay by Ryan Ridley (Rick & Morty series) and based on an original idea by The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman, this film is undoubtedly going to be an absolutely bonkers blood bath sure to make you laugh.
Venture into cinemas on April 13 to see Nic and Nick in action, if you dare…
