Renfield

Directed by Chris McKay, Renfield follows Nicholas Hoult’s title character as he attempts to walk away from his duties as Count Dracula’s (Nicolas Cage) loyal assistant. It’s an irresistible, fun premise that’s squandered to exceedingly (and distressingly) palpable effect by McKay, as the filmmaker, armed with Ryan Ridley’s screenplay, delivers a hopelessly sluggish endeavor that’s been suffused with a whole host of often astonishingly tedious narrative digressions – with the most obvious (and tiresome) example of this the continuing emphasis on a police officer (Awkwafina’s Rebecca) and her attempts at catching a criminal family. (It doesn’t help, certainly, that Awkwafina turns in an often shockingly flat and one-note performance that wears out its welcome immediately.) The exceedingly generic bent of such subplots paves the way for a midsection and second half that grows less and less interesting (and more and more interminable) as it progresses, and although Cage’s entertainingly go-for-broke turn as the iconic vampire remains an ongoing highlight, Renfield, which is overflowing with inept action sequences and eye-rolling instances of computer-generated special effects, builds towards an absolutely endless climax that ultimately cements its place as a misfire of fairly epic proportions.

* out of ****