Blu Tuesday: “Renfield” and More

Blu Tuesday is a weekly column where we review the newest Blu-ray and 4K releases, along with a brief rundown of the included bonus material, to determine whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping.

Pick of the Week: “Renfield”

The trailers for this Dracula-themed action-comedy did a really bad job of selling the movie because it’s a lot more fun than expected. Though the story is pretty flimsy, especially the stuff involving Awkwafina’s character, there’s still quite a bit to enjoy about “Renfield.” The script contains some decent laughs; the campy, almost cartoonish gore is incredibly amusing; and both Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage deliver great work in their respective roles. Cage, in particular, seems to be having an absolute blast as Dracula; he clearly understands the assignment, playing the centuries-old vampire as an abusive boss type, hamming it up without letting it devolve into parody. Granted, “Renfield” doesn’t exactly live up to the potential of its premise, but there’s enough here to ensure a good time.

Extras include an audio commentary by writer Ryan Ridley and producer Samantha Nisenboim, as well as some behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes. FINAL VERDICT: RENT

Also Out This Week:

“Warriors Two” — The first half of this 1978 kung fu classic is so awful that you’d be forgiven for wondering why it’s held in such high regard by Hong Kong cinema fans. The story is an incoherent mess, none of the characters are particularly memorable, and the tone is all over the place. It’s the kind of movie that would have been long forgotten were it not for the final 30 minutes, which are jam-packed with some brutal, well-choreographed fight sequences that suggest a completely different movie than the hour that precedes it. As a result, “Warriors Two” makes for an incredibly mixed experience, as you have to sit through some pretty egregious stuff to get to the real goods. Extras include a pair of audio commentaries (one by film historian Frank Djeng and actor Bobby Samuels on the theatrical cut, and the other by film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema on the international cut), as well as a making-of documentary and an interview with actor Leung Kar-yan. FINAL VERDICT: RENT

Disclosure: Bullz-Eye was provided a copy of the above titles for review purposes.