Our first look at the new horror comedy Renfield kept its biggest selling point hidden. That being the fact the title character, played by Nicholas Hoult, is the servant of Count Dracula, played by legendary Oscar winner Nicolas Cage, who was revealed only at the end. This latest and apparently final trailer does the opposite though. It leans heavily into the Cageness of it all and the movie looks better off for it.
Directed by Chris McKay, Renfield follows Dracula’s servant as he tries to sever ties with the immortal vampire. Basically, he’s through dealing with Dracula’s bullshit. But when your boss is Dracula, simply quitting doesn’t seem to be an option. The script was written by Ryan Ridley, from an idea by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, and here’s the latest trailer.
Cage really seems to be having fun here and the supporting characters, played by the likes of Ben Schwartz, Adrian Martinez, and Shohreh Aghdashloo, are intriguing. But this trailer really hammers home that Renfield will be mostly about the relationship between Renfield and Awkwafina, a police officer Renfield saves and befriends.
It will be very interesting to see, then, how the movie balances Cage’s huge personality with Hoult’s lead character/budding friendship storyline, as well as all the horror and comedy. It certainly can be done, and McKay’s recent work, like The Lego Batman Movie and The Tomorrow War, both had a lot of plates spinning, so we’re holding out hope.