The world has become more vocal about toxic personality traits that we often popularly refer to as “red flags,” but what happens when the toxic person in your life is Count Dracula? That is the story of Dracula’s devoted slave, Renfield. He traded his soul for the power of immortality, but his conscience often interfered with his duty. “Renfield” follows the journey of the slave as he mistakenly gets involved with a drug mafia and ends up in quite a pickle. He wants to discover himself as an individual, but with a toxic boss, that is almost impossible. “Renfield” is a light-hearted watch with a hilarious spin on the Dracula-Renfield dynamics. The overall story was kind of half-baked, but then again, you can simply watch it for the sake of entertainment and Nicolas Cage.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Renfield’ Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
One of the primary responsibilities of Robert Montague Renfield was to bring blood to his master. He used to attend anonymous group meetings that catered to those who had recently stepped out of a toxic relationship. Renfield’s victims were typically the overbearing partners that the members of the group discussed. Renfield was sympathetic to his fellow group members. He acknowledged that he was also in a toxic relationship that started with greed. Dracula took advantage of his greed and turned him into a servant by offering him a tiny fragment of his powers. After years of serving his master, Renfield admitted that he was tired of being controlled. Even though Renfield wanted to end his arrangement, Dracula would emotionally manipulate him to believe that he cared.
Every time Dracula was in full power, he would engage in a showdown with the hunters who wanted to take him down. But as always, the priests never survived, and Renfield had to clean up the place and bring Dracula back to his indestructible self. To revive Dracula, Renfield planned to bring the blood of the monsters the group members discussed. His first target was a guy named Mitch. He located Mitch and his friends and was prepared to take them to his master. With the power of the bugs, Renfield knocked them down, but he soon realized he was in trouble. Mitch and his friends had stolen drugs from a mafia family, and they had sent a hitman to kill the men and bring the drugs. Since Mitch and his men were down, the monster of a man, Apache Joe, attacked Renfield. With the pen borrowed from a waiter and his extraordinary strength, Renfield decapitated Apache Joe.
Teddy Lobo, the young blood of the crime family, ran for his life when his car was stopped by the police. Police Officer Rebecca Quincy was determined to get hold of Teddy Lobo, and she struck him in the head with a flying police stick. While Teddy was arrested, Renfield carried the bodies of two men from the scene. Count Dracula was not too happy about Renfield’s hunt. He ordered Renfield to bring him the blood of happy couples and unsuspecting tourists. Meanwhile, Rebecca was disappointed to watch Teddy Lobo walk out of the police station free of all charges. She was disgusted by the power and control the family had over the police as well. Her goal was to gather enough evidence against the Lobo family, meanwhile, all Renfield wanted was a way out of his toxic relationship with Dracula.
Did Teddy Lobo Survive?
Rebecca was surprised by how the Lobos always managed to escape. She had a personal score to settle with the crime family. Her father lost his life fighting the Lobos, and she was determined to bring him justice. But she was gradually losing hope. Her sister, Kate, was an FBI agent, and she, too, had dedicated her life to gathering evidence against the Lobos. She was worried that Rebecca could destroy her years of effort by making some silly, rash decision. After talking to Kate, Rebecca decided to re-examine the crime scene, and she got hold of a pen covered in blood on the street (the pen Renfield used to kill Apache Joe). Taking a cue from the pen, she entered the themed diner. And surprisingly, she was ambushed by Teddy and his men. Lucky for her, Reinfield was at the diner as well. He was planning to get innocent blood for his master, but the sudden Lobo ambush ruined his plan. He decided to help Rebecca, and by gulping down a fly, he was buzzing with his newfound strength. Rebecca and Renfield tackled all of Teddy and his men. Renfield was mesmerized by Rebecca’s courage to stand up to Teddy when he threatened to shoot her dead. He also experienced a sudden pride and joy after rescuing the people at the diner.
The Lobo family tracked down the location of Renfield and reached Dracula’s den. They intended to kill Renfield, but their plan remained unsuccessful. Dracula butchered everyone to death, except Teddy. When Teddy discussed his love for all things evil and how he was ready to fulfill Dracula’s plan of world domination, Dracula decided he was better as a servant than another dead body. He learned from Teddy that Renfield was busy rescuing innocent people instead of bringing them to him. Dracula decided to pay Teddy a sudden visit.
‘Renfield’ Ending Explained: How Did Renfield And Rebecca Kill Count Dracula?
Count Dracula was convinced that he was the victim of the entire situation. All that Renfield could achieve was because of the power that he received as a slave, and his sudden shift in moral judgment was negatively affecting Dracula. Dracula decided he had had enough of Renfield. He believed he had the power to build his own empire of morally corrupt slaves who would readily fight for his cause. To teach Renfield a lesson, he killed every member of the anonymous group. By the time Rebecca reached the meeting to find out the connection between the murder victims and the group, she found Renfield surrounded by dead bodies. Renfield was arrested, but Rebecca soon realized that the entire police force was working for the Lobos. She decided to flee with Renfield in the passenger seat.
After suffering a minor injury, Rebecca woke up at Renfield’s apartment. She received a call from her sister stating that the pen recovered from the scene had the fingerprints of a criminal who had committed crimes all over the world. Rebecca decided to hand him over to his sister, but before she could do so, Lobos’ men found them. Rebecca and Renfield fought together and defended each other. Rebecca realized that Renfield was not the bad guy. He lacked the courage to stand up for his beliefs. And a long time ago, he was consumed by greed, and all his life, he had been paying the price for it. Rebecca received a call from the Lobos stating that they had her sister. Rebecca was ready to do whatever was necessary to protect Kate.
After consuming a pack of bugs, Renfield was ready to face Teddy and his men. While Teddy boasted of being Dracula’s favorite, Rebecca confronted his mother, Bellafrancesca Lobo. She introduced Rebecca to Count Dracula. Instead of killing Rebecca, Dracula planned to use her to his advantage. He wanted her to envision a world where she would have the power to bring justice. He offered to rescue Kate with his healing blood if she agreed to be faithful to him. Rebecca was desperate to save her sister, but before she could accept his offer, Renfield interrupted. He managed to overpower Teddy, and thanks to his constant belittling, Reinfield found some extra strength and courage to destroy him. Renfield prevented Rebecca from making the same mistake he made decades ago, but Rebecca was not ready to listen. Just as she agreed to join Dracula, she pressed a button to raise the curtains.
Even though it took longer than she would have preferred, the sunlight pained Dracula. He shape-shifted and escaped. He confronted Rebecca and was about to kill her, but before he could do so, she shot his foot. Renfield was lying just below the flying Dracula, and his healing blood helped Renfield recover. Renfield pulled off Dracula’s fangs, but that was not enough to destroy him. Renfield felt powerful by admitting that he was dependent, and there were millions of co-dependents like him who made the mistake of consenting to a destructive relationship. But at the end of the day, they could take back the power that they had given to the monsters. He punched Dracula in the face, refusing to be the person he used to be. But Dracula was not that easy to defend, and thankfully, Rebecca used another method to tackle him. She formed a protective circle using the cocaine she found in the room and chanted the Latin verses from Wiccan Tumblr. Shockingly, the method worked, and Dracula was trapped in the circle.
“Renfield” ends with Rebecca and Renfield attacking and dismembering Dracula with all the tools they could lay their hands on. They used acid to dissolve his body and also used cement to make sure that it was impossible for him to get back. Even though they were not sure if their method worked, they were confident that it would take him a while to piece his body together. Using Dracula’s blood, Rebecca and Renfield resurrected Kate and the anonymous group members. Rebecca decided not to arrest Renfield; she believed he deserved to be out in the world and that he could help others like him recover. He was back at the anonymous meeting. He had successfully fought his demons, and he became an inspiration for other co-dependents like him to find their courage and fight for their beliefs. There are two possibilities in the end: either Dracula won’t ever return and Renfield will lose his power in the process and die as a human, or, going by history, Dracula will return (maybe it will take longer than usual) and Renfield’s power will remain. Since Dracula converted Teddy and his men into his servants as well, it is possible that some of them survived and made it their mission to bring Dracula back. It will not be too strange if Teddy and his mother return with a new sense of vengeance and work on the world dominance plan with Dracula. Thankfully, Renfield has enough Dracula blood in store to use if the situation goes out of control once again.
“Renfield” is a modern reimagination where the slave realizes his worth. After learning about toxic relationships and codependency, he realized that it was time for him to stand up for himself. After meeting Rebecca, he found the courage to fight Dracula. Even though Renfield had submitted to his master, his human conscience made it difficult for him to agree to Dracula’s future endeavors. In the end, he realized he was not weak; he simply needed to take the power that he had submitted to his master. He fought for the right reasons and was rewarded with a heartwarming ending.
