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Quick Links 'Dracula' Is a Trailblazing Masterpiece in Horror Cinema Bela Lugosi's Timeless Portrayal of Dracula

Undeniably one of the silver screen's finest masterpieces and a touchstone in horror cinema, the 1931 supernatural sensation Dracula features an incomparable performance by Hungarian-American actor Bela Lugosi, who brilliantly brought the Bram Stoker antagonist to life and set the precedent for future interpretations of the legendary vampire. The overwhelming success and impact of the cinematic staple helped shape the horror genre and led to more exciting Universal Monster movies like Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man, while establishing Lugosi as one of Hollywood's most recognizable talents.

Though many more prominent actors like Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, and most recently Bill Skarsgård (in the Dracula adjacent Nosferatu) would tackle the role of the iconic blood-sucker, none have been able to match the menace and magic Lugosi embodied on screen 94 years ago...

Going to see a parody of classic science fiction and horror movies is always a dicey situation, especially if you’re already a fan of the films they target. Besides hoping that it’s actually funny, you’re also worried that they’ll just take a stance of sneering contempt towards their source material, as is all too often the case. Even a respectful homage is no guarantee of quality, either. An affectionate tribute can too easily become an exercise in virtue-signaling, a lackluster effort at trying to prove they’re part of the fan club, and an excuse to copy what’s already been done to death. I’ll be a happy man if I never see another reenactment of Psycho’s shower scene again.

What makes Michael Stasko’s “Vampire Zombies…From Space!” such a pleasant surprise is it’s not only the rare parody that’s actually...

With Run The Series, The A.V. Club examines film franchises, studying how they change and evolve with each new installment.

It’s in his sad, heavy-lidded eyes. Though he is the iconic star of one of the first major horror franchises, The Monster is pitiable—in part because he cannot be killed,...

Abraham Van Helsing was a prominent literary figure from Bram Stokers 1897 novel Dracula, and several actors have played the character in movies over the years. Several Dracula adaptations were great, whereas others flopped, but the book was a difficult title to get right because it was so legendary. Dracula A Love Tale was recently announced, and many were quick to voice their hopes that the project was an improvement on past attempts to bring Stokers story to life.

Van Helsing was notably the arch nemesis of Count Dracula, one of the most powerful vampires from movies and TV and the defining figure in literature. His role as a vampire slayer was often translated in many different ways, with each interpretation altering his appearance, personality, and even profession. Abraham Van Helsing was a variety of men in the cinematic world, and a huge selection of actors have slipped into his shoes.

Universal's classic monster films raised a horror subculture that fueled a pop culture phenomenon. Funko pays homage to the franchise with a relaunch of four Universal Monsters pop vinyls.

Funko will release four Universal Monsters pop figures as a reboot of the first wave of collectibles launched in 2014. Frankenstein, Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, and Gill-Man / Creature from the Black Lagoon are now available for pre-order at retailers like Entertainment Earth, which ships the orders as early as August. In contrast to the muted colors of the initial release, the new vinyl figures come in the technicolor palette of the 80s (as they appeared in the Betamax and VHS re-releases). The Universal Monsters pop vinyls are part of Funko's Halloween lineup of horror IPs like Pet Sematary and The Addams Family. A relaunch of The Wolf Man vinyl figure is also on the way (as seen on photos of the...

There are several faces that haunt the first cycle in the Universal horror canon. The men who played the monsters in nearly all those early entries, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, are to be expected. Dwight Frye pops up repeatedly as a succession of madmen and henchmen. Valerie Hobson played a few heroines, while poor David Manners played more than a few hapless juvenile heroes. But, if the underwritten, ineffectual young men Manners was saddled with couldn’t do much more than fret, another actor was on hand to provide Universal with effective monster hunters: Edward Van Sloan, who squared off against Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s creation, and Imhotep the mummy across four various horror films.

“The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” which spotlights the doomed ship in Bram Stoker’s oft-adapted 1897 novel, is the second Dracula film released in 2023 after “Renfield.” Both take generous liberties with the source material, which brings up the question: Out of the 200-some films about the famous Count, which ones are the most faithful?

Here’s our ranking of some of the most popular, and a few lesser-known, Dracula adaptations.

Universal

8. Renfield (2023)

Pretty much the only thing this horror comedy has in common with the novel is Nicholas Hoult as the bug-eating title character and a delightfully campy Nicolas Cage as his bloodthirsty boss. The movie brings them both into the 21st century, makes Renfield an ass-kicking hero and swaps out Lucy and Mina for Awkwafina’s incorruptible cop.

Miramax

7. Dracula 2000 (2000)

The film begins with a shot of the wrecked Demeter and footprints in the sand as Dracula heads to town.

Corey Hawkins faces his biggest challenge yet as he takes on the role of Dr. Clemens in The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Hawkins describes the film as a blend of Dracula and Alien, bringing together classic horror elements. Javier Betot portrays Count Dracula in this adaptation, and Hawkins praises his performance, noting his physicality and emotional depth.

Corey Hawkins faces off against Count Dracula in The Last Voyage of the Demeter — place your bets! Hawkins is a talented actor who is coming off of supporting roles opposite the likes of Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of MacBeth and Anthony Ramos (In the Heights). However, Hawkins must now square off against one of the horror genre’s deadliest characters: Dracula.

Hawkins said in an interview with Screen Rant:

“It's Dracula, but it's also 'Alien' on a boat. It's the Universal and Amblin of it all. It's like a return to form,...

Walpurgisnacht, also known as Walpurgis Night or Hexennacht, is a pagan holiday celebrated on the night of April 30th. It is named after Saint Walpurga, an eighth-century nun who Christianized parts of Germany. However, the holiday has roots in pagan traditions that celebrate the coming of spring and the triumph of life over death. It is also associated with witchcraft and supernatural phenomena, making it a perfect occasion to indulge in some spine-chilling horror films.

So, grab some popcorn and get ready for a night of scares with these ten chilling recommendations for Walpurgisnacht.

1. Dracula (1931)

What better way to kick off Walpurgisnacht than with the most iconic vampire movie of all time? Dracula (1931) stars Bela Lugosi as the titular count who travels from Transylvania to England to spread his curse of the undead. The beginning of the film is actually set on Walpurgisnacht, as Renfield (Dwight Frye) arrives at Dracula...

Stakes, silver-tipped canes, and torches are all dependable ways to kill off the classic Universal Monsters. But the one common, unifying monster-slayer they are all powerless against is poor box office. This was very clearly communicated by the failure of Renfield, Universal’s attempt at resurrecting Dracula and his title sidekick in a modern horror-comedy where Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) acted more like a supernatural superhero than the simpering, wild-eyed Dwight Frye of old.

Not even the Scenery-Chewer Supreme that is Nicolas Cage could save Renfield from a meager $8 million opening weekend haul that saw the movie have its lunch eaten by Russell Crowe in The Pope’s Exorcist. This isn’t the first attempt either in the last 10 or 20 years to drag the undead out of their graves: Van Helsing (2004), The Wolfman (2010), Dracula Untold (2014), and the disastrous The Mummy (2017) all climbed back into the Universal Monsters’ tombs as quickly as possible,...

Dracula (Nicolas Cage) isn't the main character in Renfield, but Cage steals the show, and a Dracula solo movie would be way better than Renfield 2. The 2023 movie follows Dracula's servant, R.M. Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), who attempts to start a new life in New Orleans and block the Prince of Darkness out of his life for good. Renfield has received mixed reviews from critics, and the film has been criticized for its lack of story and underdeveloped characters. However, the one thing in the horror comedy that has been unanimously praised is Cage's portrayal of the bloodsucker.

Between Dracula's upgraded sense of style and his new look, Cage completes the character with his unique Nouveau Shamanic method of acting. The actor perfectly balances the humor and the sadistic nature of Dracula, which is an original approach to the character. And during an interview, Cage revealed that he would love to make a Dracula solo movie.

Chris McKay's new horror/comedy "Renfield" has a whimsical premise: it seems that when Count Dracula was vanquished at the end of Tod Browning's famed 1931 feature film "Dracula," he wasn't quite dead. His weaselly assistant Renfield, played in 1931 by the incomparable Dwight Frye, absconded with Dracula's remains and went into hiding. Renfield, now immortal and made powerful by eating bugs, stalked the night to find victims for his still-barely-alive vampire master. Dracula would drink blood, slowly grow back from the brink, and eventually be a whole monster once again. Once empowered, however, Dracula would go a little hog wild and being drinking the blood of nobles willy-nilly. This would inspire another round of attacks, Dracula would be vanquished once again, and the cycle would repeat.

"Renfield" catches up with Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) in the modern day while Dracula is in one of his recovery periods.

W​ith the release of Renfield, Nicolas Cage gets to fulfill one of his bucket list roles. He stated that the three roles he wanted to play eventually were Superman, Captain Nemo, and Dracula. He missed his chance for Superman but has at least knocked Dracula off his list. Now that the film has been released, we can see all the fun references to the Dracula lore. What Renfield Easter Eggs did you miss?

W​Arning!!!! There will be spoilers for Renfield ahead!

D​racula 1931 Footage

D​irector Chris McKay wanted to do everything he could to tie this film back to the original 1931 Dracula film starring Bela Lugosi. The font and style of the Renfield poster mimics that of the original poster. In the film, we see scenes from the original film recreated using the modern actors portraying the characters. Not only are the moments recreated, but the actors...

Warning! This article contains Spoilers for Renfield!Considering he hasn’t physically aged since Dracula (1931), Nicholas Hoult’s title character in Renfield is far older than he appears. Nicholas Hoult stars opposite Nicolas Cage in Chris McKay’s Renfield, with the former playing the titular henchman of the latter’s villainous Dracula. Renfield’s prologue reveals that the 2023 film is actually a sequel to Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula movie, meaning Nicholas Hoult’s Renfield is technically the same version of Dwight Frye’s character from nearly a century ago. As such, the characters’ connection gives a better indication of R.M. Renfield’s age in the 2023 horror-comedy.

By the time Renfield begins, the eponymous character has been serving Dracula for nearly a century. Despite the fact that Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel took place in 1897, the events in Universal’s original Dracula movie are set in 1931, with Renfield picking up...

The article contains spoilers from Renfield.Renfield star Nicholas Hoult insists that his character has come a long way from Dracula's shadow. Having first appeared in Bram Stoker's Dracula, R.M. Renfield himself has only recently come back into prominence with a movie of his own. ​​​​​In Renfield, the long-time abused servant of Dracula finally makes a move to escape his master's captivity. While Renfield originally died in 1931's Dracula, Renfield portrays the character as having survived to the present day.

After a century of catering to the vampire, Hoult told Total Film that Renfield has changed significantly. He describes Renfield's mentality in the present day and the influences of the previous iteration in setting up his character. Check out his quote below:

"Obviously, with Dracula, people then have such an idea of who he is on screen and their interpretation of their favorites. Whereas with Renfield, he hasn't appeared in every Dracula movie,...

Warning! This article contains Spoilers for Renfield!Universal’s 2023 movie Renfield stars Nicholas Hoult as the title character, whose fate retcons the henchman’s ending from Dracula (1931). Having originally appeared in Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel, the character R.M. Renfield has seen numerous interpretations in hit film adaptations like Dracula (1931) and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 Dracula, but Chris McKay’s horror-comedy Renfield is the first time that Dracula’s loyal henchman is in the spotlight. In Renfield, Nicholas Hoult’s character finally attempts to seek personal redemption by fleeing Dracula’s shadow after a century of servitude, but the Prince of Darkness isn’t so eager to see his lackey leave.

While Renfield is a new take on the classic mistreated character, Nicholas Hoult’s R.M. Renfield technically isn’t a new version of the character, as it continues the story of Dwight Frye’s 1931 iteration. Before the...

Inevitable comparisons are going be made between Bela Lugosi's classic Universal monster in Tod Browning's 1931 "Dracula" and Nicolas Cage's homage to the character in the new action comedy "Renfield," especially when director Chris McKay refers to the film as a "quasi-sequel" to the original. McKay's version certainly takes liberties with the material, catching up with Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) 90 years after Browning's masterpiece. Renfield realizes he's been in an extremely lengthy toxic relationship with his master while he sits in on group therapy sessions looking for potential victims. The abuse that Renfield suffers dates all the way back to their original meeting, prompting McKay and writers Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley to return to the scene of the crime in the opening prologue for "Renfield."

McKay and his team came up with the idea to essentially replace Lugosi and the original actor to play Renfield, Dwight Frye, with...

When Nicolas Cage was cast as Dracula in "Renfield," it felt like the universe was finally giving something back to genre fans. The planets had aligned, and one of the most unique actors of his generation was getting the chance to sink his teeth into one of the most iconic horror roles in cinema history. In his review of the film, /Film's Chris Evangelista says that Cage delivers but the movie "can't come close to matching the actor's wacko energy." 

Director Chris McKay's action comedy horror hybrid puts the dark lord's faithful, bug-eating servant, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), in the spotlight this time around to make a loose-fitting legacy sequel to Tod Browning's original 1931 masterpiece starring Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye. The characters of Dracula and Renfield are embedded in our pop culture lexicon and they've both appeared in countless versions of Bram Stoker's classic tale over the last century.

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Renfield.The Guinness Book of World Records lists Bram Stoker's Dracula as "the most portrayed literary character in film" and Renfield is full of Dracula & Universal monsters Easter eggs and references that pay homage to the famous horror icon. Directed by Chris McKay, the dark comedy stars Nicholas Hoult as Renfield, Dracula's hapless minion, and Nicolas Cage as the Prince of Darkness himself and a truly demanding employer. As Renfield endeavors to leave Dracula's employ, he joins a support group and teams up with an altruistic police officer (Awkwafina) while Dracula joins forces with the Lobo crime family to take over the city.

Throwing a wrench into the longstanding relationship between Dracula and his faithful servant offers a unique way to reflect on all the Dracula media of the last hundred years, with attention to detail in every frame. Not only are there...

Plot: Dracula’s long-suffering familiar Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult, has finally started to acknowledge the toxic relationship that he has been in for over a hundred years. One day he meets Traffic Officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), who inspires him to finally stand up to the lord of the vampires, Dracula (Nicolas Cage).

Review: Renfield is director Chris McKay’s (The Tomorrow War) blatant love letter to Dracula, with it even going so far as to recreate parts of the Universal Monsters black and white classic. It’s pretty amusing seeing Cage dressed up like Bela Lugosi in the iconic 1931 black and white horror film, with Hoult channeling Dwight Frye.

The film is a black comedy but with a surprisingly strong message about abusive relationships. Hoult plays Renfield as the victim of the ultimate narcissist, Dracula. Sure, you have your classic Dracula lines like “Renfield, come to your dark lord...

In “Renfield,” the title character, played by Nicholas Hoult, is desperate to end his centuries’ long codependent relationship with his master, the legendary vampire Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Director Chris McKay and writers Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley knew they needed to quickly establish the long history of Renfield and Dracula from the outset, and their method to do so led to one of the most delightfully entertaining and technically impressive openings in horror movie history — and they reached back into horror movie history to achieve it.

The prologue that begins “Renfield” takes us through the film’s core relationship by placing the actors in scenes from Tod Browning’s 1931 “Dracula,” the first of the classic Universal monster movies that inspired and influenced McKay.

The montage of classic moments in which Cage and Hoult take the place of Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye is both an affectionate tribute and an effective means of exposition,...

(from left) Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) and Dracula (Nicolas Cage) in Renfield, directed by Chris McKay. Courtesy of Universal

The horror comedy Renfield gives the Dracula story gets a modern twist by re-imagining the vampire’s servant Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult, as in a co-dependent relationship with his demanding boss/ master Dracula, played with scenery-chewing glee and comic menace by Nicolas Cage. A big part of the real fun of this very bloody horror comedy is in it fabulous recreations of Tod Browning’s classic 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi. Hoult does an impressive Dwight Frye as Renfield impression, including that crazy laugh, in these sequences (and occasionally throughout the movie). Nicolas Cage mimics the elegant Bela Lugosi in the recreations of Tod Browning’s classic but otherwise Cage’s Dracula is his own mix of monsters, drawing on more on Christopher Lee and others than Lugosi.

Actually, a lot of...

This article contains massive spoilers for "Renfield."Count Dracula is a character whose attributes vary over the decades of different adaptations on stage, page, and screen. Some versions of Dracula show him using fangs to drain his victims of blood while others do not. The Count may or may not be able to transform himself into various animals (ranging from a bat to a wolf), he may or may not possess extraordinary strength, he may or may not have a peculiar aversion to garlic, and so on.

Yet although only some versions of Dracula find him utilizing a faithful servant (aka a Familiar), one of the vampire's powers that has never left him is that of bringing ordinary humans under his thrall. Sometimes this power is akin to a combination of mentalism and charm, and sometimes it's full-on supernaturally-powered hypnosis, but Dracula is always able to bring those he wishes...

Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) in ‘Renfield’ (Photo © 2023 Universal Studios)

Renfield’s a fun, albeit lightweight, take on Dracula and his bug-eating minion, lifted by the entertaining performances of Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage. There are exploding heads, an ample smattering of blood, guts, and gore, and the creative use of disembodied arms as weapons. But for all its onscreen carnage, this R-rated horror comedy is really just a campy good time, forgettable yet enjoyable enough while it lasts.

It’s a no-brainer to cast Nicolas Cage as Dracula, and the Oscar-winning actor sinks his teeth into the role with a joyous, demented glee. Very seldom is Renfield’s Dracula viewed as an actual threat to humanity, despite the film’s simple plot which suggests Dracula is positioning himself as a god who desires to be worshipped by his food source.

The film sets up the relationship between...

Bram Stoker's 1897 novel "Dracula" is told in epistolary form, and begins with the character of Jonathan Harker trekking into the Carpathian Mountains to close a real estate deal with a mysterious, elusive Eastern European count. The Count, a small smiling bald man with a mustache, is none other than Dracula, an ancient vampire that feeds on human blood and is in league with Satan. Dracula signs the paperwork, locks Jonathan in his dilapidated castle with a trio of succubi, and takes a ship to England. Jonathan will eventually escape to Budapest, but Dracula is still at large, ready to infiltrate England.

Later in the novel, it will be revealed that Dracula has been psychically convening with a local mental patient named Renfield, currently locked up in a British asylum. Dracula will use Renfield to infiltrate homes and drink his victims' blood. Renfield's role in Stoker's novel is relatively small,...

Nicolas Cage has never been better than he is in the pitch-black horror-comedy Vampire’s Kiss (1988), playing the role of a Manhattan yuppie convinced he’s been turned into an immortal bloodsucker. Cage acts in the film with feral sincerity, burrowing deep enough into the madness to find some childlike desire to be seen and loved. He also found the most unthinkable ways of delivering straightforward lines. “Am I getting through to you, Alva?”; “I never misfiled anything! Not once. Not one time!”. They’re inconsequential on paper, but by the sheer, weird force of how he said them, they’ve been immortalised in meme form.

Cage was born to play a vampire. Renfield, then, feels like the long-withheld fulfilment of a promise – the actor finally gets to play the biggest vampire of them all, Dracula. His performance is faultless. There’s an elegance in the Old World elongation of his...

Renfield star Nicolas Cage has revealed how he and his co-star, Nicholas Holt, recreated classic scenes from the original 1931 Dracula film. Cage stars as a narcissistic version of Dracula in the present day, while Holt plays the titular role of Renfield, Dracula's long-standing servant and familiar who no longer wants to work for him. Parts of Renfield are black-and-white scene recreations from the original Dracula adaptation.

Speaking with Collider, Cage detailed how certain scenes from the 1931 version of Dracula were recreated for Renfield. He says that parts of the classic horror film would be played, with Cage and Holt lining their movements and speaking patterns up perfectly with the scenes. Check out Cage's full explanation below:

"Well, it was a bit like ping-pong. So what would happen was, Nick and I would be on set and then they would play, on video playback and sound playback, Dwight Frye. Then we...

My first proper introduction to Dracula was the 1931 Tod Browning film starring Bela Lugosi. Released the same year as James Whale’s equally seminal Frankenstein, Lugosi’s Transylvanian count would shape the pop culture image of vampires in the century to come. Even so, according to conventional wisdom the movie aged far worse than ol’ flattop. And to be sure, Browning’s direction is largely static, the script stagey (with it being based on a play instead of the Bram Stoker novel), and all the best scenes occur inside of the first 20 minutes. But Lugosi? He remains forever, preternaturally magnetic.

Much of this common critique is true, but there is one other virtue to this Universal chiller that’s gone largely overlooked: R.M. Renfield. Created for the screen by character actor Dwight Frye, this previously minor subplot in Stoker’s book became the veritable protagonist—a poor, dim schmuck...

The original 1931 Universal Monsters movie Dracula opens with an introduction to Renfield (Dwight Frye) as he travels to Transylvania to solidify business plans with Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), only to wind up his raving mad servant instead. Director Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War) and writer Ryan Ridley (“Rick and Morty”) seamlessly tie their modern reimagining of the characters to the original Universal classic before skipping ahead to the present day in horror-comedy Renfield. The leap simultaneously establishes the reverence for the horror classics as well as an anemic shorthand in the storytelling.

After the impressive introductory sequence that sees Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage composited into the 1931 film to explain their history together, we meet Renfield (Hoult) in the present as a long-suffering henchman to his narcissistic boss, Dracula (Cage). Despite an early attempt by vampire hunters to free Renfield from Dracula’s grip, Renfield remains a miserable yet loyal...

There have been so many variations and film versions of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula, from 1926’s Nosferatu to Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula to Francis Coppola’s well-regarded take with Gary Oldman to even comedic satires like Love at First Bite with George Hamilton taking on the role. Now in Universal’s latest effort to rescue its horror classics and make them new again, we have the perfectly cast Nicolas Cage as the Prince of Darkness. Even he has done an offshoot before, in 1988’s Vampire’s Kiss. However this time around the film is not centered on Dracula himself, but rather his beleaguered servant, henchman, whatever you choose to call him, Renfield, and it is another Nicholas, as in Hoult, who has the title role this time in Renfield. Cage’s part, though meaty, is actually supporting as the emphasis turns to the long-suffering assistant who was tasked with bringing...

Historically, the character of Renfield is known for doting on Dracula. So it's only fitting that "Renfield," the new film by Chris McKay starring Nicholas Hoult as the titular servant and Nicolas Cage as the world's preeminent vampire, loves all things "Dracula."

Dracula is one of the most consistently popular fictional characters, turning up in numerous books, films, TV shows, and other media since his debut in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel. While "Renfield," being a Universal Picture, is most reverent toward the original cycle of Universal Horror films (of which Tod Browning's 1931 "Dracula" is often considered the start), there is obviously a wealth of other Draculas that followed.

"Renfield" is not only well aware of these progenitors but McKay, Hoult, and Cage were eager to pay homage to as many of them as possible within their movie. These tributes run the gamut from acting as creative inspiration for certain...

It seemed great on paper. Nicolas Cage as Dracula? It’s a role he was born to play; it’s a wonder it hasn’t happened before now (sorry, Vampire’s Kiss doesn’t count).

Renfield, Dracula’s long-suffering servant — or in vampire parlance, “familiar” — plagued by co-dependency issues and seeking help in a support group? Sounds hilarious. An original story by Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead? I’m there.

So why does Renfield downplay those promising aspects and turn out to be such a bloody mess?

The film, stemming from Universal’s understandable continuing attempts to capitalize on its classic monsters IP, certainly starts out promisingly. Renfield, played by Nicholas Hoult, provides background information about his relationship with the vampire in his life, illustrating his narration with nothing less than scenes from the 1931 classic Tod Browning film Dracula. Cage and Hoult are digitally inserted into the footage, replacing...

Nicolas Cage in Renfield Photo: Universal Pictures If they can make an entire series about Batman’s butler, they can for sure find room for a movie about Dracula’s loyal servant, Renfield. Nicholas Hoult stars as the Count’s beleaguered body man in Renfield, a small-in-scope but fundamentally entertaining horror-comedy.

Reviews for Renfield are in, and the movie's darkly comedic gore and Nicolas Cage's stylish new Dracula seem to have won over critics. Directed by Chris McKay and based on an original idea from Robert Kirkman (which is itself based on characters from Bram Stoker's Dracula), Universal's Renfield tells the story of Nicholas Hoult, Dracula's servant, who falls in love with a traffic cop, played by Awkwafina. His newfound love encourages him to stand up to his master and seek his freedom.

Ahead of Renfield's release date later this week, critics' reviews for the film are now pouring in. While some critics took issue with the movie's unorganized presentation or lack of character depth, most seem to agree that the film offers up enough laughs, gore, heart, and chemistry between its two leading men to make it a worthwhile trip to the theater. Some even suggest Renfield...

With the exception of the Count himself, Renfield is the most dynamic character in the Dracula story. Originally conceived as a madman in Dr. Seward’s sanitarium with a mysterious connection to his vampire overlord, Renfield has evolved with the ever-extending mythos that has arisen around Stoker’s original creation.

Since the earliest Dracula films, the character has changed and deepened, become more and less integral to the story depending on the focus of the filmmakers, but has always been an opportunity for great character actors to let loose and give some of the most memorable performances in horror cinema.

This week, Renfield will finally get his moment at center stage, with Nicholas Hoult becoming the latest actor to bite into the role. In anticipation of his starring turn, here is a look at some of the very best depictions of everyone’s favorite fly-eating maniac.

Nosferatu (1922)

To avoid copyright...

In 2017 Universal debuted their ambitious plans for a series of reboots of their popular 1930s and 1940s horror films. Dubbed the Universal “Dark Universe,” it yielded only two features — 2017’s “The Mummy” with Tom Cruise and 2020’s “The Invisible Man” starring Elisabeth Moss — before being scrapped. And while director Chris McKay’s (“The Tomorrow War”) “Renfield” isn’t directly a Dark Universe project it gives audiences hope that maybe the concept might yield its own reanimation.

“Renfield” is the story of Robert Montagu Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the codependent familiar of the best known vampire in the world, Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Renfield spends his days attending a support group for adults in toxic relationships, in the hopes that he can finally break free of Dracula, once and for all. But when Renfield gets caught in the middle of a war between a prominent New Orleans crime family and beat cop...

Renfield follows Dracula's long-suffering henchman who has loyally served the vampire for years. After meeting Rebecca Quincy, a traffic cop in modern-day New Orleans, he finds a new lease on life. Inspired to break free from his boss, he tries to make a life for himself and do the right thing instead of bloodying his hands on Dracula's behalf. However, this decision brings potentially deadly consequences when Renfield is forced to go toe to toe with Dracula in the hopes of earning his freedom.

Renfield is directed by Chris McKay from a script penned by Ryan Ridley, which is based on Robert Kirkman's story. Renfield features a star-studded cast led by the legendary Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Renfield approaches the classic tale of Dracula and Renfield from a completely new perspective, with the henchman's desire to break free from his abusive, narcissistic boss...

Chris McKay’s movie Renfield is the latest take on the classic vampire Dracula, though this modern horror-comedy tale adds a twist by seeing the Prince of Darkness through the eyes of his tortured yet loyal henchman, R.M. Renfield. In Universal’s Renfield, which hits theaters on April 14, the title lackey (Nicholas Hoult) is given a new lease on life after a century of serving Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and obeying his every debased order. Renfield realizes there’s more to life outside Dracula’s shadow, and with the help of New Orleans’ local disgruntled traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), he attempts to navigate ending his toxic codependency with the literal “boss from hell.”

Screen Rant and a group of journalists visited the set of Universal’s Renfield in March 2022, where we learned secrets about the movie, its fresh take on Dracula, and numerous connections to past adaptations of the world’s most famous vampire.

Renfield director Chris McKay reveals the film is a surprise sequel to 1931's Dracula. McKay, who previously directed The Lego Batman Movie and The Tomorrow War, is at the helm of the horror comedy that stars Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Holt as the titular Renfield. The film is based on an idea from The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman, with the story focusing on Dracula's henchman dealing with an unhappy work life.

While speaking with Collider, McKay revealed that Renfield is a direct sequel to Tod Browning's 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. The sequel angle has been kept under wraps, with the director even suggesting that it should have been part of the marketing, playing up the time between the original film and the new sequel. While there is still an air of mystery surrounding the film, its status as a sequel helps refocus what has been shown in promotional material.

In spring 2022, Screen Rant was one of a select group of publications to visit the set of Universal's Renfield, where we had the chance to speak to Nicholas Hoult, who stars in the title role as Dracula's loyal henchman. In addition to his Emmy-nominated comedy performance on Hulu's The Great, Nicholas Hoult has made a name for himself in Hollywood through his eclectic slate of film roles from various franchises and genres. The actor has notably appeared in the zombie movie Warm Bodies as R, George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road as Nux, and the black comedy horror movie The Menu as Tyler. As he takes the spotlight in Renfield, Hoult fittingly adds another eccentric horror-comedy to his accomplished resumé.

Directed by Chris McKay and based on an original idea from Robert Kirkman, Renfield is a horror comedy spin on the classic tale of Dracula set in modern-day New Orleans.

Recently, JoBlo was invited to visit the set of Chris McKay’s Renfield, a action-comedy-horror reimagining of the classic master-servant relationship the title character has with the Prince of Darkness himself, Count Dracula (played by Nicolas Cage). While on set, a bunch of us got the chance to talk to Nicholas Hoult about playing the iconic character, working with Cage, and his own take on the classic Dracula mythos. Here’s a transcript of the group interview we got to participate in with Hoult!

So, it sounds like your character goes through quite a journey.

Yeah. Yeah, I guess. In this film, we pick up with Renfield. He’s kind of been working for Dracula for probably around 100 years, just under 100 years or so. So, the Renfield that we’ve seen in–you know, from Bram Stoker’s novels and from previous films, he’s kind of been living in...

Two things became apparent almost immediately upon arriving at the New Orleans set of Renfield: the Universal horror-comedy would take meticulous measures to pay tribute to cinema’s greatest vampire, and director Chris McKay wouldn’t hold back on the bloodletting for this contemporary take on classic characters.

Screenwriter Ryan Ridley (“Rick and Morty”), working from a story idea by Robert Kirkman (“The Walking Dead”), leaned into splatstick horror-comedy when penning the contemporary-based tale that sees Dracula’s lackey Renfield finally ready to break free from his toxic boss after centuries of servitude.

Ridley tells the select group of journalists on set that he drew from the splatstick greats. He explains, “The darker the violence, the funnier the comedy will be. My inspiration is Sam Raimi, early Peter Jackson, and Return of the Living Dead.”

Screenwriter Ryan Ridley on set of ‘Renfield.’ Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Meanwhile, Renfield actor...

Nicolas Cage's casting as Dracula in the upcoming comedy horror film Renfield has excited many. But following the trailer's release, Nicholas Hoult's forthcoming performance in the titular role has stoked much excitement. In anticipation of Renfield's release, and after 100 years of Dracula movies, here is a look at each actor who has played Renfield.

In Bram Stoker's seminal 1897 Gothic novel Dracula, R. N. Renfield is an inmate in Dr. John Seward's lunatic asylum. He is observed to eat insects and birds, believing that he could achieve immortality by consuming their lives. It is later revealed that Renfield is under the power of Count Dracula himself, who bestowed this form of vampirism upon him. Numerous incarnations of the Renfield, Dracula's fly-eating madman, have served the Count over the decades, but only those who appear in Dracula movies have been included for this list.

Related: Renfield Can Resurrect The Dark...

In "Dracula," Bram Stoker's epistolary-style gothic horror novel, the titular Count is cold and menacing, devoid of the sensuality associated with vampirism. Despite the novel's depiction of the Count in a wholly unsavory manner, adaptations on the big screen have invariably imbued Dracula with some degree of eroticism. Be it Sir Christopher Lee's feral rendition in Hammer Horror films or Gary Oldman's lovesick re-interpretation in "Bram Stoker's Dracula," Dracula has always had a sensual edge.

However, it was Bela Lugosi's Dracula that helped cement the iconography of the world's most famous vampire as a suave seducer. The 1931 Universal film, "Dracula," saw Lugosi make the role his own by etching the blueprint of a monster who was equally terrifying and mesmerizing. Although "Nosferatu" is now regarded as an influential entry that shaped the vampire genre, this unauthorized adaptation had limited distribution at the time of its release.

In the teaser trailer for the upcoming horror-comedy Renfield, the titular character, played by Nicolas Hoult, gains apparent superpowers after eating a spider. The trailer depicts Renfield using these powers to fight off a group of thugs wearing werewolf masks. After the fight, Renfield becomes acquainted with the film's female protagonist Rebecca Quincy, played by Awkwafina.

Directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War), Renfield is the latest reimagining of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, with the titular vampire played by Nicolas Cage. The film is the newest attempt at relaunching the Universal Monsters, which previously included the failed "Dark Universe" launch with 2017's The Mummy and the standalone The Invisible Man film from 2020. Instead of focusing solely on Dracula, Renfield is about the vampire's human familiar, a vessel to lure Dracula's victims.

Related: Why Nic Cage's Dracula Is Hardly In The Renfield Trailer

Why Insects Give Renfield Powers

In the original novel Dracula,...

It is difficult to imagine audiences ever found Dwight Frye scary in 1931, but they apparently did. With his high-strung voice and bug-eyed stare—all suggesting the countenance of someone who hasn’t slept in weeks yet feasts on coffee by the hour—Frye is unforgettable as R.M. Renfield, the doomed solicitor who foolishly traveled to Castle Dracula alone in the 1931 film version of Dracula. But scary? He was more a figure of tragedy… or from the right point of view, farce.

It would seem Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, and the entire team making this spring’s peculiar comedy-horror hybrid, Renfield, would agree. For the first time in cinematic history, the old fly-eater who was originally invented as a tragic, macabre side character in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel is the hero of his own story. It only took 126 years! Ahead of release, the film is receiving a lot of attention and anticipation for how Cage,...

Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel inspired this 1931 collaboration between James Whale and Boris Karloff, a gothic tour de force that changed the course of motion pictures. Colin Clive plays Henry Frankenstein, the over-zealous monster-maker, and Karloff is his tragic creation—manufactured from a dozen different body parts but with a lonely soul all his own. Mae Clarke is Frankenstein’s beleaguered bride and bent-backed Dwight Frye plays the doctor’s cruel assistant—he suffers a ghoulish if fitting fate. Jack Pierce designed Karloff’s legendary make-up.

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Celebrate Nine Decades Of Your Favorite Monsters On 4K For The Very First Time In Collectible Packaging

Available On 4K, Blu-ray™ And Digital On October 5, 2021

From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Synopsis: From the era of silent movies through present day, Universal Pictures has been regarded as the home of the monsters. Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection showcases four of the most iconic monsters in motion picture history including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolf Man. Starring Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and Claude Rains in the roles that they made famous, these original films set the standard for a new horror genre with revolutionary makeup, mood-altering cinematography and groundbreaking special effects.

Classic Monster Films Included:

Dracula (90th Anniversary) Frankenstein (90th Anniversary) The Invisible Man The Wolf Man (80th Anniversary)

Hours Of Bonus Content, Including:

The Road to...

The grimacing Count, the inspired Dr. Frankenstein, the megalomanic Dr. Griffin and the unlucky Larry Talbot make the jump to 4K courtesy of Universal. We’ve seen what 4k Ultra-hd can do for new movies, and selected older features that can benefit from the quality boost if they’re remastered well. Uni monster fans are presently scrutinizing the web for expert opinions on this disc; CineSavant tries to explain what he sees as simply as possible: are the format versions different? Is the new one an improvement? We certainly have no doubts about the movies, which if anything look better than ever. Each Universal classic comes with acres of accumulated fine-quality extras.

Universal Classic Monsters Icons of Horror Collection

4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray + Digital

Dracula, Drácula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

1931-1941 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 4 complete films / Street Date October 5, 2021 /

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler,...

Swedish cult film streaming service Cultpix, which launched in April, continues to beef up its catalogue while expanding deals with distribution partners.

Company co-founders Rickard Gramfors and Patrick von Sychowski will be attending the Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (Mfic) in Lyon, France, where they will be on the lookout for new acquisitions.

“This is the first time that either of us are attending and we are already in discussions via email with other market participants,” von Sychowski said. “We are hugely impressed by the caliber of companies attending Mfic and the rights libraries that they represent and we are confidant about making several deals there.”

Cultpix has increased its offering from an initial 400 titles when it went online to some 600 films and TV shows, adding an average of five to six new titles a week, von Sychowski said.

Specializing in classic genre and vintage cult films and TV shows,...