Renfield’s Adrian Martinez Discusses Film’s Balance of Dracula Homages (Exclusive)

The classic monster movie is getting a modern twist. Renfield represents Universal’s latest dive into its extensive monster-base IP sandbox, but rather than simply rebooting the age-old Count Dracula story, this Chris McKay-directed picture puts an R-Rated comedic spin on it. As evident by the title, Renfield is told through the perspective of RM Renfield, Dracula’s servant, who is desperately attempting to break free from his toxic relationship with the vampire. While Renfield is not a direct attempt to create a larger cinematic universe, the film is not exactly a pure standalone.

McKay recently revealed that Renfield was written as a direct sequel to Tod Browning’s Dracula (1931). This is exemplified in the film’s flashback scene, which features Nicolas Cage’s Dracula and Nicholas Hoult’s Renfield shot like they are in an old school film.

Speaking to ComicBook.com at the Renfield premiere, star Adrian Martinez noted that McKay’s tributes to the Dracula stories of yesteryear are properly balanced with this film’s own narrative.

“I feel like that’s something Chris McKay, our director, did very smartly, because he has a respect for the tradition of Universal’s horror movies, but at the same time, he has very much a modern twist to it, a very twisted humor to it,” Martinez said. “That balance between horror and humor, people love it. I love it. We can see it in all the media now, [with] What We Do In The Shadows and all these other things.”

What comes after Renfield remains to be seen. Producer Robert Kirkman also told ComicBook.com that he has “ideas” for how Renfield could expand into something bigger, but emphasized that it is very much a wait and see situation.

“I think there’s a lot of potential there,” Kirkman said. “I’ve been saying I’m a comic book writer, so that’s kind of how my mind works. I’m always thinking about where the story goes next, where the next issue is how you pay off the cliffhanger. I certainly have ideas. There’s a lot of opportunity to expand different explorations of different characters that are in Renfield and also the larger world that Renfield takes place in. We’ll just have to see if the movie does well enough to justify it.”

Renfield arrives in theaters this Friday, April 14th.