irector Chris McKay isn’t completely ruling out the idea of a Renfield sequel.
Sitting down with Empire for the magazine’s August 2023 issue (you can pick up a copy for yourself right here), the filmmaker discussed the ending of the film, where Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) and Officer Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina) cover their bases by trying every lethal method in the book — holy water, poison, bullets, chainsaws, and axes — in an effort to vanquish Dracula (Nicolas Cage) for good.
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The famous vampire is ultimately ground into a fine, bloody paste and mixed into cement cubes that are then dropped into the sewer. But as The Princess Bride taught us, there’s a huge distinction between “all dead” and “mostly dead.”
Director Chris McKay on why a Renfield sequel is still a possibility
“Renfield’s going to cement those bits with holy water and then spread them out presumably around the world,” McKay explained. “But inside each of those cells, Dracula is still alive, and may eventually come back together.”
Even severe mutilation can’t keep the Count down for… well, the count. Bad news for Robert Montague Renfield, but good news for the rest of us. Who wouldn’t want to see more exploits in this horror-comedy universe? It just feels so fresh and new — a more than welcome twist on a century of bloodsucking lore.
(from left) Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) and Dracula (Nicolas Cage) in Renfield (2023) Photo: Michele K. Short / Universal Pictures
The film is chock full of inspired gags that play on pop culture’s widely accepted rules regarding those pesky, coffin-dwelling ghouls. When the titular protagonist moves into his own apartment, for instance, he makes the rather egregious mistake of purchasing a welcome mat, which basically serves as an open invitation for ol’ Drac to cross the dwelling’s threshold without being formally beckoned inside.
“We know the audience is coming to this movie with a lot of knowledge,” McKay said. “They’ve seen a lot of vampire movies. That’s why we can do gags like the doormat. ‘Welcome,’ I think you could get away with, but when it says, ‘Welcome, come on in, that’s when you’re screwed.”
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And if Dracula does indeed regenerate one of these days, his former assistant may find himself calling on the greatest vampire slayer in all of fiction. “There are choices that we made to suggest that there’s a world of vampire-hunters out there,” McKay teased. “It would not be a huge leap to suggest that Van Helsing would [still] be out there.”
Renfield is now streaming on Peacock and available to purchase on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.
