The Lambcast returns after a one week hiatus, and too entice all of you listeners, we fill the show with a couple of the undead and their opinions on the new Nicolas Cage vampire film, “Renfield”. Ninety years after Bela Lugosi, we get a direct sequel of sorts to the most well known of Dracula films.
Nicolas Cage has always said that there were three fictional characters that he wanted to be able to play on screen. His attempt at Superman, famously fell through, and who knows, maybe someday we will still get Captain Nemo, but for now, one of his wishes comes true as he sinks his fangs into the one of the most prolific fictional characters in film, Count Dracula.
“Renfield” is a story that focuses on the demented character originally played by Dwight Frye, but who takes center stage in this movie by being portrayed by Nicholas Hoult. This is the second pairing of the two Nicks, after playing father and son in the 2005 film “The Weather Man. In this story, Renfield is trying to escape toxic co-dependency and become his own man.
The film had generated a lot of anticipation, but turnout for both the film and the podcast was a little lighter than expected. Nevertheless, the guests this week do their best to tell you if the movie flies or if it merely sucks.
Bloody violence, rather than horror is the main selling point of the movie, and that violence is celebrated with a sense of humor that is to be expected in a post modern film. Dead bodies fly through the air, as do dismembered arm, heads and assorted other parts. There is plenty of action to go with the comedy, so if laughs are not your drug of choice, maybe viscera will suffice.
Awkwafina provides a mouth cop to aid in the modern humor and help flesh out a story that takes a turn toward gangland territory. Cops can be plenty corrupt in a film, but the New Orleans Police Department might find their image is even more severely tarnished than it might have imagined.
The idea that a crime family could be enhanced by an alliance with the undead is not new, but it is a bit of a strange direction to send the film, at least that’s what our guests spend part of the time arguing about. Ben Schwartz is both antagonist and comic relief in the film. Nic Cage gets to ham it up and everyone tries their best to keep the premise going. Do they succeed? You have to listen to find out
We have a couple of sidetrack discussions about accents and dialect, frosted snickerdoodles and an uncomfortable insight from Jay about the effectiveness of chloroform as an agent used in kidnapping. We speculate a little on why the film might not be living up to box office dreams, and we play a game based on Vampire Films.
Exit Question of the Week : What are your Favorite Vampire Films? Oddly, none of us picked “Twilight”.
Introduction
Spoiler Free Discussion 3:28
Spoilers Start Early 14:08
Sort of Lambscores 50:48
Bloodsuckers Game 53:18
Plugs 1:00:02
Exit Question 1:19″45
Howard Pop Art
Richard KAMAD
The show can be found, of course, via iTunes – just do a search for “LAMBcast.” Also, I always post a link to the show on the LAMBcast’s Facebook page, and there’s a player there if you’d like to listen online. Find the show here:
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2023-04-18T12_52_15-07_00
If you’d ever like to catch up on back episodes, go there. If you’re interested, you too can be a LAMBcaster – we love new blood! For more information on the LAMBcast, check out the topic at the LAMB Forums. Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod’s Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. Closing song by Cake. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too – if you’d like yours read on a future show, leave it in the comments section at the LAMB. Please visit and like our Facebook page, and finally, we’re on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it’s a bad one. Thanks for listening!