The Final Renfield Trailer Disappointed The Internet In One Major Way
Universal Pictures' upcoming horror-comedy "Renfield" has classic monster movie fans excited, mainly because it's the studio that brought viewers the original Universal Monsters. The classic era began in 1931 with "Dracula," which was followed in the same year with "Frankenstein." The release of "The Mummy" soon followed in 1932, while "The Bride of Frankenstein" was released in 1935, and "The Wolf Man" debuted in 1941.
The common denominator for the five aforementioned films was that all of the films were shot in black and white, creating a dreamlike vision that remains indelible to this day. It's the sort of presentation some fans on Twitter were hoping for in "Renfield's" final trailer, even though fans could not getting enough of Nicolas Cage's sadistic Count Dracula in past trailers.
Among the fans vocal in their disappointment on Twitter is user @QuintDunaway, who referred to "Renfield" and another upcoming Universal Pictures release, "Oppenheimer," when lamenting about what could have been.
"These are two 2023 movies I'm super excited for, but I can't help but feel they missed an opportunity to have them be black and white," @QuintDunaway posted. "Better yet, black and white excluding the blood in #Renfield and anything nuclear in #Oppenheimer." Twitter user @Big_Rainen shared this sentiment.
"If they made a whole movie that was the black and white part of the 'Renfield' trailer, I'd be more excited than I am for the actual movie," @Big_Rainen posted. Lucky for fans, it appears that at least part of "Renfield" will appear partially the way they want it.
Renfield pays homage to 1931's Dracula
Though it hasn't been as widely seen, a 30-second television spot for "Renfield" reveals a black and white scene that is a callback to the classic meeting between Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Renfield (Dwight Frye) in the 1931 version of "Dracula." It's a scene that Nicolas Cage, who stars as Dracula opposite Nicholas Hoult's titular Renfield, teased in an exclusive interview with Looper in January 2023. What Cage didn't reveal is the homage — at least in the "Renfield" TV spot — is a shot for shot recreation of the vampire's introduction to his future servant.
Twitter user @onpurposevinyl snagged some of the black and white footage from the TV spot and featured it in a post. They still expressed their optimism for the film, despite some disappointments.
"I'm still giving Renfield a chance," @onpurposevinyl posted, "but I really wish they would've filmed it in this style."
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons "Renfield" will be presented in both black and white and color is explained in the TV spot. The recreation of the famous 1931 scene appears in black and white, but then the footage turns to color as the story fast-forwards 90 years to the present day where Dracula is still a pain in Renfield's neck.
Fans will find out just how much footage in "Renfield" will appear in black and white when the film opens in theaters April 14, 2023.