In the modern era, most massive blockbusters seem to be superhero films. For every successful horror film or smash hit comedy, there's a never-ending stream of comic book-inspired content to enjoy. This has led some other genres to borrow elements of their presentation. One of the most frequent combinations sees Universal monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, mummies, and now, Renfield using their power for good.
Renfield is primarily a film about Dracula's long-suffering assistant struggling to break free of his dark master's clutches. The trailer depicts his work with a therapy group, but he also finds himself in conflict with a group of armed thugs. He dispatches them violently in an action scene straight out of a Deadpool movie. It's an interesting new direction for the character, but a familiar one for monsters in general.
R. M. Renfield was introduced in Bram Stoker's Dracula. He's an inmate in an insane asylum who believes in eating living things to gain their power. He idolizes Dracula and does whatever is asked of him in exchange for a never-ending supply of small creatures to eat. He's convinced that he'll earn immortality through this deal, but his only real "power" is enhanced strength, seemingly as a result of his mental illness. Renfield turns against Dracula when he meets Mina Harker and decides that he can't allow his master to have her. Renfield boldly attempts to defy Dracula, but he's killed in the battle. The film seems to be playing with a similar concept, but Renfield will evidently use his enhanced strength to save others from human and supernatural threats. He's a hero now, and he shares that title with some other Universal Monster classics.
Universal Studios has been trying to find something to do with all of its monsters for years. The obvious answer came in the form of The Invisible Man, but that's not the direction they want to go with. They evidently want something comparable to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, superheroes and all. Renfield is an attempt to reboot the Dracula film franchise that began in 1931. Look no further than the last attempt to do the same, the 2014 film Dracula Untold. That film tried to combine Dracula's pop-cultural power with the history of Vlad the Impaler. It depicted Vlad as a powerful vampire who uses his vampiric superpowers to win the war against the Ottoman Empire. It didn't work, but it's in conversation with something like Renfield.
Films with no connection to Universal also attempt to upgrade horror villains to superhero status. Look to I, Frankenstein. This minor entry came out the same year as Dracula Untold and depicted Frankenstein's monster as a demon hunter. It was even worse than Dracula Untold. It's packed with lore and needlessly messy world-building. It's fairly sad to watch a studio throw name recognition at the wall like this. These examples demonstrate Hollywood's desperate follow-the-leader approach to big franchises. They're also not the worst ones out there. That title still clearly goes straight to the Dark Universe.
Universal's Dark Universe cinematic universe began with the hilariously disastrous 2017 Mummy reboot. The film started with a weak pastiche of the earlier Brendan Fraser trilogy and ended with Tom Cruise taking the mummy's power to become a superhero. They even had their own Nick Fury in the form of Russell Crowe's Henry Jekyll. It's comical in its ambition. It's unlikely that Renfield will be that level of embarrassment, mainly because its approach to the genre combination seems to be much more earnest. The concept of monstrous superheroes is much older than these recent film takes.
Many major comic book distributors featured horror series that gradually became superhero stories. Marvel had multiple lines of anthological horror tales that eventually produced semi-popular monster heroes. Jack Russel was a Werewolf who used his lycanthropy to fight supernatural foes. Simon Garth is a zombie who remains intelligent enough to save people from other undead. Even Marvel's version of Dracula has played an anti-hero role from time to time. Marvel, in many ways, invented the concept of turning a classic monster into a superhero. This moderately proud history should be the basis for this bizarre subgenre, but most attempts haven't followed its example.
Renfield takes elements of the title character's story and turns them into the basis of a superhero. Renfield has a bit of name recognition, but not enough to make him an automatic draw. Universal is attempting to reinvent its monster franchise from an angle that we haven't seen before. By approaching the story from a new perspective, rather than breaking its bones to fit a genre that sells well, Renfield could be the vanguard of a new era for the studio. The monsters as superheroes genre have very few positive representatives. They're all cult hits at the best of times, but Renfield could finally give people that love them something worth defending.