Chris McKay’s take on Bram Stoker’s perennial classic Dracula, Renfieldis proving to be one of the highest-profile films of 2023 so far, featuring a star-studded cast of Nicholas Cage as Dracula, Nicolas Hoult as Renfield, who grows tired of doing Dracula’s dirty work, and Awkwafina as a traffic cop/Renfield’s love interest. Cage is predictably Cage-y and properly sinks his teeth into the role with his signature enthusiasm.
But this isn’t the first time Cage has played an over the top leech. Let’s go back to 1988, when Cage first entered cinematic vampirism with the ridiculously entertaining Kiss from the vampire.
A plot that could embarrass a literary agent
However, that’s exactly what Cage’s character, Peter Loew, does for a living. He’s the flashy kind of literary agent who was popular in the media in the 1980s and cared more about sex and drugs than literature. He has an almost Valley Girl-esque accent and spends most of his time away from partying, complaining to his therapist, and making excessive demands on his secretary.
While frolicking with a woman he brought home, Jackie, Loew is attacked by a bat in his apartment, which he admits to his therapist he found very sexy. It isn’t long before he brings another woman, Rachel (Jennifer Beals), home from a nightclub, and she bites his neck with what appear to be vampire fangs, though there is no evidence of the bite or Rachel in the morning. After shaving his neck, Loew decides this is evidence of the fang bite and starts acting like he was bitten by a vampire.
His behavior becomes increasingly erratic as he acts how he thinks a newly minted vampire would behave. He tries to win Jackie back, but can’t resist the pull of Rachel, who has reappeared on the scene. Or has she? Loew spends a lot of time talking to people who aren’t there, not seeing themselves in mirrors, and the like. He even buys some fake teeth. Encounters with Rachel and his secretary Alva (Maria Conchita Alonso) reveal Loew’s shaky grip on reality as it becomes increasingly clear that he is losing his mind.
However, after attacking Alva, Alva’s brother Emilio has had enough and kills Loew with a stake to the heart, something that would kill a vampire or an ordinary person. Loe dies permanently.
On Set Shenanigans
Hard to believe, but Dennis Quaid wasn’t just Loew’s original choice Kiss from the vampireCage even stopped for a while on the advice of his agent who did not think it was a good follow-up to the success of hit by the moon.
Filming was low-budget and chaotic, with stories about Cage following shots of the cockroach eating with shots of vodka, demands for role recasting (he lobbied to have Beals replaced with his then-girlfriend Patricia Arquette), and most importantly memorable, for hot yogurt to pour over his feet during a love scene with Beals (who he made no secret of not loving). And while he hated working with a mechanical baton, Cage has called the film his “favorite movie I’ve ever made” in recent years.
A hint from Cage to come
By the time Cage starred in Robert Bierman’s Kiss from the vampirehe already had a handful of great movie appearances under his belt: inclusive Peggy Sue is married, Raising ArizonaAnd hit by the moon, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. While these roles were known for their quirkiness, none had the outright over-the-top quality of Kiss from the vampire. After all, he eats a live cockroach Kiss from the vampire.
After the checkout failure by Kiss from the vampireCage went through a serious career slump, not even alleviated by appearances in now critically acclaimed films such as Wild at heart. He spent several years languishing in half-hearted rom-coms, and it wasn’t until he landed a role that required a similar lack of inhibitions (Kiss of death) that his career started again.
Suddenly, Cage was the go-to for outré performances, with scenery chewing through Leaving Las Vegas, Face/Off, Con airAnd Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans port of call. He has appeared in a mix of critically acclaimed films and films that were simply immensely enjoyable for his performances.
Over the top and up to date
In recent years, Cage has really pushed himself, working with directors who were happy to give him free rein to be his most Cage-y. We’re talking about the bathroom scene Mandywhere an underwear-clad Cage cries in grief as he pours alcohol over his head, or the Lovecraft adaptation Color from spacewith Cage as the father who loses his mind after a meteorite lands on the family lawn, or in Pig, where Cage is overcome with grief for, yes, his missing pig. He’s also played himself in the aptly named The unbearable weight of enormous talent.
And now we have Renfield. Renfield falls into the trap of so many acquaintances (see What we do in the shadows), attaining immortality and the other benefits of vampirism, but essentially chained to a master whose whims one must satisfy. After nearly a hundred years, Renfield grows weary of Dracula and his incredibly high standards, and an attempt to kill members of a co-dependent support group for his master ends up in an accidental involvement in a gang war, and Renfield discovers there are things he can do really learning from the support group. Of course, none of this works for Dracula, and his subsequent actions lead to Renfield and his new cop girlfriend ending the codependency once and for all.
Only time will tell if Renfield becomes a cult classic along the lines of Kiss from the vampire. But one thing’s for sure: nothing beats Cage running down a Manhattan street in a suit screaming, “I’m a vampire!” I am a vampire! I’m a vampire!” with all the glee of an eight-year-old on the last day of school.