New ‘Renfield’ featurette promises lots of gore, car chases and Nicholas Hoult

A new behind-the-scenes feature for Renfield teases the messy action of Christopher McKay‘s highly anticipated take on the Dracula myth. With Nicholas Cage as Count Dracula and Nicholas Holt As his faithful servant Renfield, the horror comedy promises to explore the two characters’ supernatural bond as a toxic relationship.

While most movies about Dracula focus on the vampire lord himself, Renfield will change perspective to give the spotlight to his fan favorite minion. After 93 years in the service of Count Dracula, Renfield falls in love with aggressive traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina), forcing the poor man to reevaluate his codependent relationship with his abusive boss. It’s a crazy concept for sure, which is why Cage reveals in the new featurette that his “first first reaction when I read that was, ‘That’s bold, that’s original, that’s unique.'”

The new featurette also offers fans new scenes of Cage’s version of Dracula, a flamboyant, ultra-violet, megalomaniac prince of darkness. As Hoult puts it in the latest behind-the-scenes look, “They have the most narcissistic boss imaginable, who’s also a powerful, blood-sucking vampire.” Of course, such a wild concept only works with a healthy dose of fun, which is why Cage points out: “When you hit the bullseye of comedy and horror, you get something very special, very tasty.”

The new featurette also gives us a taste of the incredible action set pieces that await us in the dark corner of cinemas. In Renfield, Dracula’s servant-bug eating habit grants him superhuman abilities, allowing him to smack people’s heads off their necks. In the behind-the-scenes featurette, we see some of these grotesque encounters before all the special effects are added, but since the film was rated R, we can expect some real carnage from the final cut.

Renfield is a surprise entry in the Universal Monsters franchise

As well as being directed by McKay, the director behind the amazing The Lego Batman MovieRenfield is Ryan Ridley (Rick and Morty) from an original story treatment by Invincible‘S Robert Kirkman. The film acts as a direct sequel to death browning‘S Draculawhich launched the popular Universal Monster film series in 1931.

Renfield will have its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival before receiving wide theatrical release. After that, the film will hit theaters on April 14th. Check out the new featurette and movie synopsis below.

In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s trusty servant, Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Nicolas Cage). Renfield is forced to obtain his master’s loot and do whatever he pleases, no matter how humbled. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there is life outside the shadow of the Prince of Darkness. If only he could figure out how to break codependency.