Don’t expect an Oscar winning masterpiece when you watch “Renfield”, it’s a chaotic fun with buckets of blood and lots of violence kind of movie. Both Nicholas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as Renfield are superb with excellent acting and a dynamic master – servant relationship.
Cage is one of my favourite actors, despite his history of turning down non-leading roles in studio films, he signed on to play Dracula. It was a life-long dream of his to portray the legendary figure. He even had his teeth filed down in order to have a more natural-looking fit and better enunciation while wearing his Dracula prosthetics. The movie industry can be such a strange world.
When I read that “Renfield” is categorised as a comedy horror, I was afraid it would be another heavy movie with tedious jokes. I was wrong, the slapstick humour and over the top action stunts make this movie a joy to watch. It also seems like there’s a big come back to “gore” in movies lately, the ripping of body parts, dismemberment, tons and tons of blood… Definitely a must watch for fans of the genre, I love this stuff.
I’ve always been a sucker for aesthetics, Dracula’s lair for example was amazing. It was shot in the abandoned Charity Hospital in New Orleans. I don’t know how many blood bags have been used to create this scene, but I did read that to the left of his chair, there’s a pile of 75 semi-fresh bodies. There’s a room at the back with at least 150 fully decomposed bodies, and there’s a blood smear where Renfield had to drag them across the floor. A lot of work and creativity went into this, some people have such awesome jobs.
If you don’t go in with too many expectations, this movie is definitely a good choice for a fun popcorn evening.
Once more, the Book of the Dead has been opened and, once more, evil has taken possession of humans to bring chaos to this world. While the plot isn’t very different from the previous movies, the setting is. This time, except in the first scene, the cabin in the woods has been replaced by an old apartment from which people can’t escape.
The team in charge of the setting did an amazing job, the apartment where it all happens is amazing. Then, there’s Alyssa Sutherland, who delivers an absolutely stunning performance. The perfectly composed second wife of Ragnar in Vikings turns in one of the creepiest possessed woman I’ve ever seen! I’ll never see her with the same eyes again.
All the ingredients of a classic Evil Dead are there: relentless action, a fantastic casting, a ton of gore (6,500 liters of fake blood were used for the movie), an amazing soundtrack (the voice on the recording is none other than Bruce Campbell’s) and even a chainsaw.
Honestly, we didn’t expect it to be so good and, apparently, neither did the studio. The film was originally meant to release exclusively through HBOMax via direct-to-streaming, but it performed so strongly during test screenings that they decided to release it theatrically instead.
Definitely a top pick for a solid horror evening, even if you’re not a fan of the franchise.
I’m writing this post as I’m watching Wudijo‘s launch stream of Diablo 4 and it’s pretty hard to concentrate, so I asked ChatGPT to write “A 100 words positive review of Scream 6 without too many superlatives” and this is what it returned:
Scream 6 breathes new life into our beloved horror franchise, delivering an entertaining experience. The film masterfully blends the essence of the original movies with a fresh storyline that keeps you hooked from start to finish.
The performances are commendable, with the cast skillfully embodying their characters and adding depth to the narrative. The script is cleverly written, striking a balance between suspense and humor that keeps you engaged throughout.
The direction is top-notch, effectively building tension and delivering satisfying scares.
Scream 6 is a must-watch especially for a Saturday pop-corn & horror evening.
While it’s certainly less personal, it isn’t too far from what a human would write.
Did you know that…
Courtney Cox was the first cast member to sign up to return as Gale Weathers. She states that she did not hesitate to return because she loves playing Gale, and jokingly said that she’d even play her for free. She did her own stunts during Gale’s showdown with Ghostface and stated that it was her favorite scene because she got to really fight with Ghostface.
On the other hand, Neve Campbell refused to reprise her role as Sydney because she felt the offer that was presented to her did not equate to the value she brought to the franchise.
So, you can say what you want about Cox’s botoxed face, but she’s far more real than Campbell. Way to go, Courtney!
