Man who serves bossy Dracula for 100 years

Here is a boss who puts his secretary on standby 24/7. The servant has every reason to quit his job, but he is afraid to leave the boss because it is the potent and scary Dracula that he works for. Wherever this poor man goes, this ubiquitous monster reaches him. If he rubs the boss the wrong way, he may possibly be torn apart into a million pieces. Although he has spent as many as 100 years accompanying him, he decides to revolt against the scary boss. “Renfield,” where Nicolas Cage plays this demanding Dracula boss, premiered on Wednesday. Despite being a bloody splatter in which shocking amputation scenes fold, this gore film still stays in the comedy genre.

The story starts when a realtor named Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult, knocks on the door to the castle of Dracula. As Renfield comes across as a trustworthy and hardworking man, Dracula, played by Nicolas Cage, offers him a job to work with him in the castle. In return, Renfield is made immortal and turned into an extremely strong creature to pull out someone’s limbs or crush his or her head when he eats insects.

One of the most critical assignments given by Dracula is to bring him a pure offering. The boss’ never-stop demands for fresh offerings make Renfield exhausted. Getting stuck in the monster’s gaslighting rut, he is repetitively told to serve him for his lifetime.

Roaming around in search of offerings on a typical night, Renfield happens to help Rebecca, a righteous cop played by Awkwafina, sweep away drug traffickers in a restaurant. It gets him thinking that he wants to quit his job and return to a normal life. His change of mind immediately makes Dracula furious enough to block him from handing in a letter of resignation. It heralds the beginning of the war between the boss and the servant.

“Renfield” is a witty interpretation of Dracula in a modern context. Dracula is depicted as a boss addicted to human blood while Renfield is his servant, a victim of gaslighting. The film also talks about the psychological insecurities that people today suffer, such as depression and relationship addiction, a mental state in which you see your existential value in someone who needs you and subsequently depends on him or her. Renfield, the underdog who knocks off the stronger guy with a potent fist, says that he is weary of being abused and deserves to be happy. Indeed, his uprising is a catharsis for those on the weaker end of any relationship.

Cage’s Dracula makeup and costumes are fun to enjoy during the film. To make the character look real, crews customized the monster’s sharp 3D-printed teeth and long nails. The actor was eager to change into Dracula. He even had his teeth shaved down to wear 3D-printed dentures.


Ji-Sun Choi aurinko@donga.com