Renfield Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

2. The Emotional Elements Don't Really Work

A serious casualty of the film's mile-a-second pacing is that it undercuts any and all attempt to deliver genuinely emotion through the development of its characters.

Almost any time the film stops to wax sentimental on the tragic backstories of Renfield and Rebecca - both having suffered their share of loss in the past - these moments feel forced and tossed-off in a lazy quest for resonance.

Does a movie about Dracula's abused lackey really need this? And even if it did, these scenes feel rushed to the point of disingenuousness.

The same is also true of the inevitable romantic pairing between Renfield and Rebecca, which despite Hoult and Awkwafina's efforts, comes off as flat and unconvincing.

Nobody came to this movie for gooey feelings - they came to it to watch Nicolas Cage rip people apart and Nicholas Hoult try to stop him.