Review: 'Renfield,' about Dracula's bug-eating familiar, is a good idea that doesn't get any space to breathe

There’s a good idea for a movie in “Renfield,” a blood-dripping comedic take on Count Dracula’s bug-eating assistant — but that idea gets swarmed, like bugs around a piece of meat, by so many bad movie impulses.

Our titular anti-hero, Robert Montague Renfield (played by Nicholas Hoult), relates his origin story early one: A 19th-century real estate lawyer, he tried to pitch a Romanian count on a land deal — only to find himself turned into the count’s minion. The upside is that he shares a bit of Dracula’s powers, which kick in when he eats an insect. The downside is that he must retrieve victims for Dracula (played by Nicolas Cage) and hide the boss somewhere dark and gross when he inevitably gets nearly destroyed by heroic humans deploying sunlight, holy water and protection spells.

That’s where we meet Renfield today, helping a charred and grotesque Dracula reconstitute himself in an abandoned New Orleans hospital. While Dracula is on the mend, Renfield is spending his time sitting in a support group for people in toxic relationships. Renfield wouldn’t describe himself that way, though he’s starting to have reservations about his decades of leading people to their deaths. He uses the group meetings to find people whose lives would improve if their toxic partners came down with a sudden case of being sucked dry. 

When the toxic partner in question turns out to be a lowlife drug dealer, Renfield finds himself in the middle of a tediously routine gangland war. The lowlife drug dealer owes money to New Orleans’ most intimidating crime family, the Lobos — who get put out when their thugs turn up dead. First, the obnoxious son, Teddy Lobo (Ben Schwartz), goes looking for Renfield, followed by the real boss, Teddy’s mother Bella (Shohreh Aghdashloo). 

The crime family seems to have every cop in New Orleans on the take — except one, Rebecca (played by Awkwafina), who’s determined to take down the Lobos, who killed her dad, also an honest cop. When the Lobos try to put a hit out on Rebecca, it’s Renfield, fueled by bugs, who saves her life and becomes an inadvertent hero. Being heroic feels nice, for a change, and Renfield starts wondering if he can break free of the co-dependency and toxicity of working for Dracula.

The script — by Ryan Ridley (a writer for “Rick and Morty”) and Robert Kirkman (creator of “The Walking Dead” universe) — is in a tug-of-war over what’s the funniest and most interesting story. One is about Renfield’s journey of self-discovery, a light parody of support groups and psychologist-speak. The other is tongue-in-cheek mayhem, where we’re supposed to laugh at the ridiculousness of the carnage. The movie toggles between those two settings for 90 minutes, and neither develops the way they should.

The drawing cards for “Renfield” are the lead actors. Hoult (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “X-Men: First Class”) is perfectly deadpan as the long-suffering familiar, finally coming into his own. And Cage, who can chew scenery like no human on earth, finally gets to deliver the biting (pun intended) performance he’s dreamed of since “Vampire’s Kiss” in 1988. It’s a pity, really, that Cage’s chance came in a movie that’s so … bloodless.

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‘Renfield’

★★1/2

Opens Friday, April 14, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for blood violence, some gore, language throughout and some drug use. Running time: 93 minutes.