Anyone who delights in the sight of Nicolas Cage letting his freak flag fly, be it in "Vampire's Kiss" or as a bonkers version of himself in "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," is going to love watching him sink his teeth into the role of Dracula in "Renfield," now in theaters.
It's too bad Cage has to do so much heavy lifting to keep this comic fright fest afloat as the characters get buried in blood splatter to disguise the film's hollow core.
No knock on Nicholas Hoult, who brings his all to the title role of Renfield, toiling as Dracula's personal errand boy for nearly a century, surviving on eating insects so he can keep up with the boss on his killing sprees. But reducing Cage to a supporting role is never a good idea.
In the definitive 1931 film take on Bram Stoker's vampire tale, Bela Lugosi portrayed the Count and Dwight Frye played the bug-eyed Renfield, hissing "Master" whenever Dracula came into view. In a nice early touch, Cage and Hoult are digitalized into Tod Browning's black-and-white monster mash, recalling not just Lugosi but Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman.
How does Cage stand up to those icons? Like gangbusters, befitting an actor firing on all cylinders. With his pale skin, razor sharp teeth and eyes dancing with throat-ripping menace -- deep bows to Christien Tinsley for the makeup -- Cage is next-level scary and funny as hell.
But he's not on screen nearly enough. Luckily, Hoult ( "The Great," "Mad Max: Fury Road") excels at bringing Renfield into the modern age as an intern who is so tired of taking orders from a malignantly narcissistic boss that he joins an anonymous 12-step program on co-dependency to put an end to his increasingly destructive life patterns.
These scenes, with Brandon Scott Jones scoring major points as the group leader, generate a fair amount of welcome satirical giggles. "I deserve happiness," parrots Renfield. "I will no longer tolerate abuse."
Renfield is stuck in a work rut, outfitting his master's throne with blood bags he can siphon into a martini glass and patrolling the streets of New Orleans so Dracula will never want for fresh blood. Renfield keeps claiming he's a victim. "You caught me at a low level, maybe misled me," Renfield accuses the Count. But Dracula's not buying it. Neither are we.
Still, when Hoult plays soulful counterpoint to Cage's ravenous ego, they're a kick to watch. But director Chris McKay ("The Lego Batman Movie"), working from a script by Ryan Ridley, keeps cutting away to scenes of gory violence that kill the film's already fragile hold on momentum.
Renfield's almost-romance with local cop Rebecca Quincy (a wasted Awkwafina) goes nowhere. And padding is the only way to describe the film's subplot about Dracula teaming up with the Lobo crime family, led by Bellafrancesca (the seductively throaty Shohreh Aghdashloo) and her drug-dealing son Teddy (Ben Schwartz in a losing battle to out-ham Cage).
So what started as a clever, contemporary spin on the Dracula myth gets swallowed up into a quicksand of cartoonishly repetitive, R-rated action cliches that make "Renfield" seem too long at a scant 93 minutes. The talent of Cage and Hoult is indisputable, but what a shame neither of them thought to drive a stake into the heart of a script that leaves them sputtering for life.
