Renfield's 12 Most Disturbing Moments, Ranked

Contains spoilers for "Renfield."

2023 has certainly been a campy year for the world of movies so far and we're definitely not complaining. From "M3GAN" to "Cocaine Bear," we've seen movies with thoroughly ridiculous premises attain ample box office success. Next in line this year is "Renfield," directed by Chris McKay and starring Nicholas Hoult in the title role.

The film focuses on Renfield, a familiar in service of the mythic Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), who's essentially an assistant with magical powers. However, being at the beck and call of a bloodsucking narcissist for hundreds of years doesn't do much for Renfield's self-esteem. Armed with his powers and some self-help books, Renfield looks to take control of his own life and end his never-ending toxic relationship. The film boasts not only a ton of laughs but a slew of effectively disturbing moments as well. So cover your neck and bolt that coffin shut, because these are the 12 most disturbing moments in "Renfield," ranked.

After we're properly situated with Renfield as our protagonist, we get a much clearer, and utterly gruesome look, at what exactly he does for his master. It seems that the indentured familiar must traverse the city nightlife and bring back a never-ending succession of victims for Dracula. However, Renfield does possess a moral compass and has found an alternative method of collecting meals for his master. Through attending the meetings of a dependent relationship counseling group, Renfield is able to locate toxic and easily expendable people to poach.

After hearing one woman's story about her toxic ska-loving boyfriend, Renfield heads off to collect Dracula's breakfast. Renfield drops in on the boyfriend who, as it happens, has just helped rip off cocaine from a rival gang. In short order, Renfield slaughters all of the gang members in a gruesomely gory fight sequence set to classical music. However, it seems a hit man has been summoned to the same location, and the hitman goes as far as to slash open Renfield's stomach, leaving his guts to spill out in a sickening display. This gratuitous sequence reaches its crescendo when Renfield shanks the hitman with a pen and sends his head flying into the window of Teddy Lobo's (Ben Schwartz) car.

Partway through the film, Quincy is betrayed by the entire police department, all of whom have the Lobo family's hands in their pockets. This results in a shootout and brief chase scene after Quincy falsely arrests an innocent Renfield for the murder of the support group. However, during their escape, Quincy is wounded, which leads Renfield to bring her back to his apartment. It's here he's able to explain his backstory just before the corrupt police force shows up to neutralize both of them. What ensues is a fight scene best described as "Upgrade" meets "The Toxic Avenger," with epic moments of aerial agility mixed with copious bodily fluids.

As Renfield engages in hand-to-hand combat with multiple cops at once, Quincy is forced into a gunfight with limited ammo. The scene concludes when Renfield, once again, removes a man's arms by force, only this time opting to use them as weapons. He then proceeds to use the arms as gory nunchucks before killing two cops by throwing them like Olympic javelins. As they depart the apartment complex, we see just how many bodies Renfield has left in his wake. This results in a hilarious reaction from Quincy, who notes that this will always be what she's referencing in the future when she says, "I've seen worse."

Partway through the film's first act, we get to see Dracula shortly after being charred in the sunlight during the attempt on his undead life. We're shown that, after being chased out of every major country and city in the world, Dracula and Renfield are forced to reside in a dilapidated hotel. The basement has been fully tricked out to be Dracula-appropriate, complete with glowing blood bags, cobwebs and, as we see later, piles of rotting bodies. It's also where we learn that without ample sustenance, Dracula's healing process is both slow and very gruesome.

Dracula approaches Renfield for his belated meal, revealing his current form as a disfigured body with skin hanging off of it. In a film rife with computer-generated blood effects, we're treated to some effectively icky and impressively practical makeup effects. Credit to Cage, who is able to convey an ample amount of humor and menace even behind the latex prosthetics. Throughout the first third of the film, Dracula slowly regains his original form, with more hair and skin growing back every time we see him. It's a great visual effect and definitely helps convey just how much of an actual monster Dracula is, despite his suave presentation.

The film comes to a head in the final third when Dracula aligns himself with the Lobo family to take down Renfield and Officer Quincy. What ensues is something that can only be described as "The Matrix: Reloaded" with gore being thrown everywhere. It seems that Tommy Lobo, as well as his entire crew, receive a unique perk by aligning themselves with Dracula: the abilities of a familiar. This means that, much like Renfield, they have a small percentage of Dracula's power, making them absurdly strong and agile.

After dispatching Tommy and his goons, Renfield goes to save Quincy from Dracula, who is attempting to court her over to the dark side. She baits him by pretending to accept, before activating the windows and flooding the room with sunlight. Dracula escapes into a theater within the building when he menaces a seemingly helpless Quincy as the stage lights flicker on and off. However, while up in the air, Quincy is able to shoot Dracula's foot, causing his healing blood to drip into Renfield's mouth and revive him.

With his strength restored, Renfield is finally able to stand up to Dracula, even ripping his fangs out in the process. Emboldened by what he learned in the support group, Renfield finally overpowers Dracula and beats him down like a UFC fighter.

You might remember Nicolas Cage's flamboyant performance in "Vampire's Kiss," in which he plays a mentally ill man who thinks he's becoming a vampire. That cornball performance is worth noting here, as it can't be overstated just how entertaining Nicolas Cage is as Dracula. As much as he's been meme'd to death for his over-the-top moments, we can never forget that Cage is legitimately talented. As funny as the idea of Cage portraying the legendary vampire is on paper, he really throws everything into the role.

One of the scenes where Cage really gets to shine, both in terms of humor and horror, is when Dracula arrives at Renfield's new apartment. The image of Dracula, in his full garb, casually chilling at the kitchen table just waiting for Renfield is priceless. It's here that Cage really gets to play with the role, utilizing some hysterical facial expressions while listening to Renfield's excuses. On a dime, he's able to crank up the menace when he begins threatening Renfield and tearing down any self-worth he'd recently built up. He even goes as far as to self-victimize himself, saying that he's the one who's really been hurt in this situation. This is one of the moments in which Cage's performance as the Prince of Darkness is at its most disturbing.

It's important to note once again that "Renfield" is a horror-comedy, so even when it's being funny it's also simultaneously disturbing. However, one scene bereft of nearly any humor is when Dracula deduces who's been putting ideas of self-improvement in Renfield's head. After learning that a local church is the dependent relationship counseling group's location, the Count immediately flies off. Renfield gives chase and arrives just in time to warn everyone of his master's arrival, but nobody believes him when he says they're in danger.

So when Dracula arrives at the door, the group's naive counselor is quick to invite him in, sealing their fates. After a thoroughly cheesy introduction, Dracula throws Renfield out of the way and goes to work slaughtering the entire group. In a film mostly filled with laughs, it's a scene that thoroughly cements Nicolas Cage as an effectively intimidating Dracula. It helps that the actor's already expressive face is intensified by gnarly-looking, sharp teeth and gaunt, pale skin. But Cage is completely in his element here, perfectly encapsulating the film's balance of scares and laughs by remaining funny and menacing.