Renfield 2023 Ending Explained | Review Recap | Movie Spoilers
Hello everybody, welcome to my channel. Today I am going to explain and recap a recently released horror comedy movie called Dracula. Although there are many Dracula movies this one is quite unique and has an interesting take on the legend. The film opens in a support group where different people were sharing their abusive and toxic relationships. Here we see a guy named Robert Montague Renfield who was observing everything carefully. He starts narrating his back story to the audience. A century ago Renfield was a lawyer in Europe who wanted to be rich. One day he visits Dracula to make a real estate deal. Dracula sensed his lust for wealth and power, offered him deals, took him to exotic places, made him feel special, and then hired him as his familiar. Meaning Renfield became Dracula's personal assistant to manage his daily needs like human blood, flesh, etc. Dracula gave Renfield immortality with superhuman strength. Whenever Renfield consumed any bug his powers got activated.
Over time hunters a.k.a church people started hunting Dracula for his crimes. During one such attack, a priest encircled Dracula in a protection field. He was about to send him to hell, his native place, just then Dracula convinced Renfield to destroy the field. He said to Renfield that priests will catch and torture him for his crimes of being a servant once they get rid of him. Renfield in the heat of the moment saved Dracula who in turn killed the priest. Meanwhile, Priest's followers opened the window curtains to let sunlight in which burned down Dracula. To regain his strength Dracula needed fresh human bodies and it was Renfield's job to do that. For over a century, Renfield has been doing this, bringing bodies, fighting hunters, and moving from city to city just to be safe. But now Renfield has grown weary and exhausted of bringing victims for his master. In the modern day he is in New Orleans, listening to stories of support groups. Rather say scouting for bodies.
The support group head Mark asks Renfield to share his feeling but Renfield declines. Caitlyn shares her story. Her abusive boyfriend Mitch, was perfect for Renfield. He travels down to his place where Mitch was smuggling stolen drugs with his buddies. The drugs belonged to a local mafia leader Teddy and his mom Bella who hired a hitman named Apache Jo to finish off Mitch. Renfield ate a bug and started fighting with Mitch and his buddies with his superhuman strength. Apache Jo mistook Renfield for Mitch's man and attacked him. One powerful punch from Renfield made Jo's head fly towards Teddy who in horror drove away from the scene.
Officer Rebecca Quincy and her partner Chris were at a DUI checkpoint when Teddy crashes his car. He starts running soon seeing the cops as his car was filled with drugs. Rebecca and Chris chase down Teddy. Rebecca had a history with the Lobos Mafia family as she had lost her dad to them. She was eager to put Keddy behind the bar, this time she had all the evidence. Unfortunately, Teddy gets bail as Lobos had good lawyers and the entire police staff was on their parol. Rebecca's sister Kate, an FBI agent also wanted to take the Lobos down. She reminds Rebecca that they need to be professional and not let their anger get the better of them. Rebecca was clearly a hot-headed one.
Renfield brings Mitch, Joe, and his buddies' bodies to Dracula who in rage rejects them saying these are junkies. He demands innocents like nuns, cheerleaders, schoolgirls with the purity of soul. To teach a lesson to Renfield he severed his abdomen which starts bleeding. Dracula says he is not a monster but a supernatural being who is just trying to survive. One can't convert a wild tiger into a vegan, a tiger will eat what it pleases.
Teddy and Bella discussed the mishappenings. Bella agreed that Rebecca needed to be silenced so that others could get the message. Fear is the moat of the mafia.
Renfield was in his favorite restaurant to scout innocents. Soon Rebecca and Chris arrive here as they had found a pen belonging to this restaurant at the crime scene. Just then Teddy and his goons show up to kill Rebecca who was not at all hinged seeing the gun at her face. Rather she taunts Teddy to pull the trigger who with all his bravado never actually killed anyone. Renfield gets inspired by Rebecca's bravery, he decides to do one good thing with his powers. He ate a bug, attacked Teddy from behind, and started killing his goons. Rebecca too joined him. After an intense bloodbath, Teddy ran away and Rebecca thanked Renfield for his good samaritan act. Renfield felt good for the first time in many years, he understood that he can be the force of good too.
Renfield later visits Dracula who had recovered a lot. Dracula shares his grand vision where he wishes to come out of his hiding. He wanted more men like Renfield, an army perhaps who could feed him his delicious needs. Hearing this Renfield panics, he didn't know what to do. He was in a conundrum with moral questions. He attends his support group and refers to Dracula as his boss. Explains his dominant behavior, toxic work culture, and his suffering. Mark says it's a classic case of narcissists taking advantage of low self-esteem guys. He asks Renfield what will happen if he stops focusing on his boss's needs and starts working on his personal needs. With this one sentence, an idea lit up in Renfield's brain who understood that if he doesn't feed Dracula then he will not grow to his full power. He will remain weak. Renfield soon bought a flat for himself and asked Rebecca out for a coffee. Rebecca gave the pen as evidence to her sister Kate for analysis.
Bella finds out about Renfield from the CCTV footage, she tracks down his hiding place. Teddy and his goons soon entered the place searching for Renfield but faced Dracula. Dracula kills everyone, he grabs Teddy by his neck and enquires. Teddy in horror tells him about the heroics of Renfield, how he saved a few innocents and everything. This enrages Dracula who felt betrayed, he flies out in his bat form from there. He enters Renfield's flat and reprimands him for abandoning him. He terms Renfield a real monster as he left his wife and child for wealth. He in his narcissistic way was dominating Renfield who in a desperate move tries reading affirmations from his support group's manual. The group was an outreach program from livespring church which once captured Dracula. Dracula in anger again flies out to kill all group members.
Renfield rushes in to warn others but it was late. Dracula enters the meeting in a nice dress, Mark mistook him for a victim and invites him. Here Dracula reveals his true identity and revenge on Renfield by eating all members. He regains his full power. Renfield begged him to spare their life but it was late. Moments later Rebecca and Chris arrive here on a follow-up investigation but were shocked to the core seeing Renfield in blood. Rebecca cuffs him in. On the road a bunch of cop cars pulls up along with Bella and the Lobos, confirming Rebecca’s suspicions of cops being on Lobo's parol. Including Chris and Captain Browning. Captain tries to convince Rebecca to join them, but she shoots a transformer to distract everyone. She escapes with Renfield but a bullet hits her in the shoulder.
On the other side, Dracula makes a deal with Teddy, he wanted an army of servants, and the mafia was perfect for him. Teddy agrees. The next morning Rebecca woke up in Renfield's apartment where he had made some breakfast. To make her comfortable he cuffs himself again and narrates his sad life story. Rebecca didn't buy this Bullshitt story at first. But soon she gets a call from her sister Kate who tells her that the prints on the pen belong to an old man who is wanted in many counties. He is a serial killer with dozens of cases. Kate offers backup but Rebecca asks her to meet her in a cafe in twenty minutes.
As they left the flat Bella's goons and police together attacked them. Renfield in a hurry consumed a bug, got his power back, and killed all the men. The bodies piled up like anthills. Captain William was shocked seeing this gory action and throws in his towel. As he was leaving someone punched him in his face which decapitated his head. It was Teddy, he was the new familiar of Dracula with his buddies. He introduces Dracula to his mom who makes a deal with him to rule the earth for eternity.
Later we see Renfield and Rebecca outside in a cafe where Renfield shows her his family photo. How he regrets abandoning them. Here Rebecca calls Kate but it was picked up by Bella, who has kidnapped her. She orders her to her base. Dracula telepathically communicates with Renfield to taunt him about his grand success. Renfield warns Rebecca about this, both collect items like rosaries, insects and downloads protection circles prayers from Tumbler.
These two arrive at the Lobos building to find that Teddy and the other Lobos have been turned into familiars with superpowers. Rebecca rushes to find Kate while Rendield battles it out with other goons who were also familiars like him. Teddy boats about his new superpower to which Renfield says it's a curse. In an intense fight, Renfield finally kills Teddy. Rebecca was searching for her sister in another room covered with shades when Dracula appears in front of her. He proposes she joins his league as he will help her get justice for people who were deprived of it. By bringing Kate's dead body he says only my blood can rejuvenate her.
Rebecca does an act of joining him but sneakily opens the shades which start to burn Dracula. He instantly flies out from there to the basement while killing Renfield on the way. Finally, he grabs Rebecca by her neck to kill her but she shoots at his feet. A few drops of Dracula's blood dropped on Renfield who came back to life again. He instantly and aggressively attacked Dracula and threw him in a protection circle. Apparently, Rebecca did the circle with cocaine powder. Finally, these two killed Dracula very violently and collected his blood. With Dracula's blood, Kate was alive again. She and Rebecca arrested Bella and took revenge for her dad's death. Renfield rejuvenates all members of his support group as now he needed them the most. For the first time after many years, he was truly free. He and Rebecca became good friends. With this, the film ends. This is a pretty straightforward movie with plenty of action and laughs.
The movie is loosely based on a novel by author Barbara Hambly, published in 2006. The book is a retelling of Bram Stoker's classic horror novel Dracula but from the perspective of Renfield, one of the secondary characters in the original story. The novel is set in the late 19th century and begins with the arrival of the mysterious Count Dracula in England. Hambly's writing style is engaging and atmospheric, capturing the sense of unease and foreboding that permeates the story. The characterization of Renfield in the book is particularly strong, as the reader can witness his gradual descent into madness and his struggle to hold on to his sense of self. Compared to that the movie doesn't make justice. It reduced Renfield's character drastically. This could be Nicolas Cage's iconic avatar as he perfectly integrated the act of violence with humor.
Overall, the writing and the climax are predictable yet satisfying. Hope you enjoyed this video. Please subscribe to my channel and hit the like button. Thanks for watching.
