"Renfield" is a
great movie to watch when you want your laughs with a good side dish of
gratuitous violence. There’s a fair bit of bloody dismemberment, but it is also
so outlandish that that it mainly registers as hilarious. I mean, I still
cringed, but I also laughed. If you really, really don’t like blood or extreme
violence, then consider yourself warned. This movie has buckets of (very fake)
blood and bodies appearing to be ripped apart. There’s a scene where our hero,
Renfield, appears to rip some bad guys’ arms off and then proceeds to defeat
two other bad guys with an arm each.
At its
heart, this is a movie of self-discovery. Of finding your place in the world
and claiming it. And perhaps making amends for past sins and failures by
realizing there are things worth fighting for. "Renfield" has the best use of
positive affirmations I have ever seen either in real life or on film. It is
worth seeing for that scene alone. And you’ll know it when you get to it. It
was cathartic even just watching.
As for Nic
Cage as Dracula, it was brilliant. He’s so good at making candy floss of the
scenery, but in this movie, it was only when it fit the scene. And then he
would just let loose and enjoy the moment. There are even a few nods at the
beginning to the most iconic Dracula of them all, Bela Lugosi. It was
beautifully done. Nicholas Hoult makes a delightfully vulnerable Renfield –
someone you find yourself rooting for, even as he hangs yet another empty-sounding
motivational poster on the wall. And Awkwafina managed to be both abrasive and
likeable at the same time.
As for a
gaming twist, I honestly don’t know. This would be an odd story to turn into a
scenario. You could – maybe – use it to inspire your own redemption arc
inspired game, where your player characters get sucked into helping some poor
sod find his way to freedom and a new life. If you want to make it as
over-the-top as Renfield, I’d suggest maybe making it a one off for some
special reason. If you kept the horror aspect of a servant trying to escape a
monster master, such as a vampire, it could be a fun game for Halloween. Don’t
hesitate to make the idea fit your needs.
As always,
if you’d like to see what movies I intended to watch this month, you can find
them in this post. And if you’re curious what Pun’s original themes are, check
out his blog, Halls of Nephilim, here.
No comments:
Post a Comment