Renfield Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs
2. It's An Amusing Satire Of Toxic Relationships
As thin and lightweight as the script might be, it nevertheless deserves credit for its big, inspired idea: making the Dracula-Renfield dynamic an analogue for toxic relationships.
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The film is framed by Renfield's status as a browbeaten lackey working through a 12-step program intended to disentangle him from his abusive master, and this aspect of the movie's storytelling and characterisation is easily its strongest.
It could certainly be more nuanced and less-obvious, but it's still a clever and contemporary way to recontextualise these characters' iconic relationship - and Cage and Hoult are clearly thoroughly game to explore it.
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