About Renfield – Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage stars as Dracula in the side-splitting, action-packed new cult classic, RENFIELD, available to own on Digital, Blu-rayTM and DVD June 6, 2023 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Soaked with bloody fun and overflowing with toxic relationships, RENFIELD comes home in a Dracula Sucks Edition with 60 minutes of darkly humorous and captivating never-before-seen bonus content, including deleted scenes and featurettes that dives deeper into the cutting-edge comedy and the secrets behind turning a classic tale into a modern monster movie.
“Super fun from start to finish” (Buzzfeed), RENFIELD features an immortal cast alongside Cage including Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men franchise), Awkwafina (The Farewell, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings), Ben Schwartz (“Parks and Recreation”, “House of Lies”), Adrian Martinez (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, iGilbert), Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog, “House of Saddam”), and Brandon Scott Jones (“Ghosts”, “The Good Place”). Directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The LEGO Batman Movie) and written by Ryan Ridley (“Rick & Morty”, “Community”) from a story by Robert Kirkman (“The Walking Dead”, “Invincible”), the edgy horror comedy is produced by Skybound Entertainment and Giant Wildcat.
Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss: Dracula (Nicolas Cage). For centuries, Renfield has slavishly served Dracula by procuring his master’s prey and doing his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, Renfield is ready to look for a new life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness, if only he can figure out how to end the toxic, co-dependent relationship…
EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES ON DIGITAL, BLU-RAYTM & DVD:
- Hilarious Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Alternate Takes
- Dracula UnCaged – Go inside the mind of a vampire as Dracula himself, Nicolas Cage, reveals the secrets behind turning a classic character into a memorable monster.
- Monsters & Men: Behind the Scenes of RENFIELD – An in-depth look at Renfield’s cast, sets, costumes and more as the actors and filmmakers reveal how they modernized a famous terror tale with trailblazing comedy and over-the-top action.
- Stages of Rejuvenation – See how special makeup effects bring the undead to life throughout the four stages of Dracula’s incredible transformation.
- Flesh & Blood – Exploding heads. Peeling faces. Severed limbs. They’re all part of the macabre movie magic that fuels Renfield with inventive action and hilarious horror.
- Fighting Dirty – Stunt coordinator Christopher Brewster leads a look at the training, choreography, and careful execution that goes into the film’s spectacular stunts and fight scenes.
- The Making of a Deleted Scene: Renfield’s Dance! – Nicholas Hoult and choreographer Kathryn Burns pull back the curtain on constructing an elaborate musical number for a fantasy dance sequence.
- Feature Commentary with Producer Samantha Nisenboim, Screenwriter Ryan Ridley, and Crew
HNS Review: “Renfield” is a gleefully silly vampire story that features blood and carnage galore. It also tackles toxic relationship dynamics and how to overcome them. The film caps a nice runtime that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The over-the-top tone won’t be for everyone and the CGI is very wonky. But seeing Nicholas Cage hamming it up as Dracula is worth the price of admission alone.
About the Product: The product is very accessible. It comes with a blu-ray, dvd and digital code. This is handy wherever the viewer might be since the code is accessible everywhere. The package comes with a slick case that has a shiny tint to it, highlighting the colors associated with the film. I also enjoy the “Dracula Sucks” edition featured with the package. It’s campy and colorful, much like the film.
About the Special Features:
Hilarious Deleted and Extended Scenes – There’s quite a few extra scenes here. I feel a few of the extras could have been included to enhance the movie. The one I’m happy they cut was the dance scene. As funny and entertaining as it was…it wouldn’t have fit well into the film. Certain scenes were extensions of existing ones, while others were brand new and cut out.
Alternate Takes – I really enjoyed this section. The first collection of takes where the goons are insulting Renfield’s appearance was hilarious. I also enjoyed the extended scene where Ben Schwartz was poking fun at Dracula’s drink preferences as a vampire. Lots of clever humor here. I think more of this humor would have enhanced the film.
Dracula UnCaged – Here, we get a personal approach from Cage and how much playing Dracula meant to him. He reveals the importance of his father on his interpretation. Cage also explains his desire to mold previous interpretations with his own spin. He also breaks down how much went into the physical performance of Dracula and the training that was required to bring his vision to life.
Monsters & Men: Behind the Scenes of RENFIELD – This section is the most in-depth regarding the filmmaking process. Several cast members explain how this interpretation of the famous characters were a fresh, whimsical take. The gore combined with the humor certainly creates a distinct tone and does something new. Each actor on set especially enjoyed seeing Nicolas Cage ham it up as Dracula. From the extensive set pieces to the on-screen chemistry, each element is examined. Nice section!
Stages of Rejuvenation – Nicolas Cage and the special effects team explain how they transformed Dracula from his injuries early in the film. Each scene shows him healing from a grotesque injury. It was impressive seeing how much effort went into creating a realistic look on Cage. The makeup and special effects were quite extensive. I really enjoyed seeing all the work that went into it, which really gives perspective into how much goes into making a film.
Flesh & Blood – This section was an extension of the previous, going further into the gore side of the filmmaking process. Although lots of cheesy CGI was used during the violent scenes, there were a lot of practical effects used too. I especially enjoyed seeing Nicholas Hoult preparing to punch a head off a bad guy and the process of making the blood explode. They really had to time everything properly to make sure the scene would be successful.
Fighting Dirty – “Renfield” features a lot of fast-paced action sequences. To prepare for this, the stunt coordinator breaks down how he constructed each scene. Each actor and stunt double had to be very familiar with the choreography to be safe performing the stunt. Pretty cool to see from a different perspective.
The Making of a Deleted Scene: Renfield’s Dance! – Another feature of the pack is how elaborate Renfield’s dance scene was. It’s too bad the scene wasn’t included in the final cut because there was a lot that went into it. From the costume design to the dance choreography, it was a very detail-oriented scene. Although, I’m glad this scene wasn’t included because it wouldn’t have made much sense if included.
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