The Humorous Horror of Renfield: Cage, Characters, and CGI

Get ready for a campy twist on the classic monster film, Dracula, as we dive into the world of Renfield! We're joined by Kiley to discuss Nicholas Cage's iconic performance and analyze the movie's unique blend of special effects and CGI. Expect a heavy dose of nostalgia as we explore how this film remains true to its horror roots while injecting a ton of humor and silliness.

Delve into the codependent and toxic relationship between Renfield and Dracula, and witness the desperation for change. Join us in dissecting Aquafina's character arc, and learn how her father's death and quest for revenge could have been handled better. We also touch on the missed opportunities to give her character more depth and the idea of Dracula's preference for the blood of innocent people.

As we bid adieu, we rate Renfield a solid seven out of ten, and recommend it as a rewatch. Don't miss Kiley's thoughts on the "gay vampire icon" Nick Cage and how his recent string of films has captured our attention. This episode of Second Emulation is packed with lively discussions of plot points, characters, and our overall enjoyment of this campy monster flick. Tune in and get ready to sink your teeth into Renfield!

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Transcript

Emily: 0:00

Welcome to Second Emulation, the podcast that explores all things pop culture, from movies and TV shows to the latest anime releases. Join us as we dive into the world of entertainment, sharing our thoughts, opinions and insights on the latest trends and releases, with a focus on what's hot and what's not, where you're go to source for all things pop culture. So sit back, relax and let's get started.

Shawn: 0:20

I'd like to welcome you back to another episode of today's podcast. Today we'll be talking about Renfield. I'm Shawn and I have with me Kiley, and this is a weirdly campy twist movie on what is a classic monster film from the monster universe on a black and white film Dracula. But it's taken in the aspect of Renfield, who doesn't get a lot of shine.

Kiley: 0:54

Really no, it's usually, i would say. Dracula is the focus, so it's the perspective of Renfield in the year of our Lord and Savior, 2023, on the movies from his aspect and how he feels after all these years of serving Dracula.

Shawn: 1:08

essentially, Yeah, and it gives you like that the horrible boss type of feel.

Kiley: 1:15

Well, Dracula would be a horrible boss.

Shawn: 1:18

But yeah, it does have that feel to it. And this movie recently came out. We did not watch it in theaters, We watched it digitally on a VOD and Sally and no, not Sally we actually liked it.

Kiley: 1:33

Yeah, i would say not, sadly. I enjoyed it. It stars obviously Nick Cage, but also Nicholas Holt, and then someone I was surprised to see in the movie Aquafina. I know she's in a lot of comedies lately. I just didn't expect her to be in this movie specifically. Yeah, it's just came out this year And I rather enjoyed it. I thought it was a good time. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I really liked all of the over the top gore and action. It was so almost silly. It was just very silly when they were fighting and how quickly people's limbs and stuff fell apart. It was just it was silly. But it was so silly, it was campy and I enjoyed it And it fell in line with Nicholas Cage's performance. He's such an over the top actor that it fit in this movie and I thought he did a way better job than Nicholas Holt.

Shawn: 2:25

And it was a very interesting blend of like actual special effects and CGI. Normally with movies like this, with supernatural and monster verse, you can go one of two ways practical effects or like very CGI. You get a lot of that. With movies like underworld It's very just once the monsters are on screen, or vampire, that goes strictly via CGI. So it was different to see actual like practical effects, so that was pretty cool. So they played heavy until the deep roots of the classic horror. But again, nick Cage, i feel like this is his wheelhouse And we're getting a lot of Nick Cage. That happens to be like the year of Nick Cage.

Kiley: 3:17

Yeah, I would say the last couple years. And actually someone said to me recently that because when he was in debt and he filed for bankruptcy that he had to pay off that debt And so he just really took any movie that came his way until he could pay it off. And that's why there were some movies that he was too active terribly in which I guess that's true. But also have they seen Connair? because her movie was not great And he was not in debt then. So he I feel like his acting perfectly fits some movies and it does not fit all, But he did do a good job in this movie.

Kiley: 3:53

It's the year of Nick Cage.

Shawn: 3:55

Yeah, and we all like to forget the knowing.

Kiley: 3:58

Yeah, the knowing was also really awful.

Shawn: 4:01

But what I was referencing to was there seem to be movies coming out for Nick Cage. Not too long ago we saw what was the other movie that him and another just recently where he played himself That was like the curious.

Kiley: 4:19

no, I know what you're talking about. We did a review for it.

Shawn: 4:23

Did we?

Kiley: 4:25

I feel like we didn't read.

Shawn: 4:26

No, we did not.

Kiley: 4:28

We watched the movie.

Shawn: 4:31

We did not do a review for it.

Kiley: 4:33

The unbearable weight of massive talent.

Shawn: 4:36

Yeah.

Kiley: 4:36

We did not do a review for it. We did not do a review for it.

Shawn: 4:39

We did not, we did not do a review for it.

Kiley: 4:40

We did not do a review for it. We did not do a review for it. We did not do a review for it. So we could do a review for it if we haven't.

Shawn: 4:43

But yes, we did watch it And that came out within the past year, so you hear that first on the podcast that we will eventually.

Kiley: 4:48

I guess we forgot. I thought we did it.

Shawn: 4:50

So eventually, in this multiverse of film catalog of Nick Cage, we will eventually do a review of that movie, which that one I did enjoy as well, and it was also over the top, just like Renfield.

Kiley: 5:04

It was Also I saw. This is separate, but I saw Pig recently too, and that came out a couple years ago And you did a really good job in that one too. I think that maybe he's actually able to pick the projects he wants to do now And he's more committed to his overacting in these. But it works, it works. Yeah, i had enjoyed it.

Kiley: 5:26

I would have to say, all of my favorite scenes where he's in them were probably my favorite scenes in the movie, because he's so over the top is Dracula, and I feel like that's how Dracula would be Honestly so out of place in this day and age. Because he's not, he can't go out and live a normal life during the day. He can only go out at night or where it's dark. He needs to have someone doing his bidding, and so it makes sense that he'd be out of touch and would like enjoy the kind of dressing and all that stuff of the olden days when he had more I would say, more power, where he wasn't reliant on being so secretive. But yeah, one of them would probably be when he comes into Nicholas Holtz Renfield's home, which is terribly decorated, and he's looking at his like self-help books and stuff like that. I thought that was a pretty good scene.

Shawn: 6:21

My favorite scene is actually the beginning for how this whole thing kind of unfolds, where we see the like, the codependency and reliance of Renfield, where we see the vampire hunter, the priest. They help separate, attempt to help separate Renfield from Dracula, and you get that tone that there's this very strong hold that Dracula has on him and they're trying to imprison him. And then, just when you think they can push him aside, it doesn't work. You, that smooth talking, articulate way of getting, tempting you with what you want to the heart of Renfield, and he pulls him right back and you see just the brute monster that Dracula is and Nick Cage's portrayal of this Dracula, which is also campy because he's just murdering the vampire hunter and the priest very in like, in a way that we would normally not see, and because of how he does it he's drained And so that leads into like, how he has to be dormant for so long.

Shawn: 7:46

But, I just thought it was interesting, like how codependent he is on the individual.

Kiley: 7:54

Yeah, i think that was a big play in this movie, though, like how they're a codependent and toxic relationship, because even in that moment where they trap Dracula, he looks at Renfield and I think he tells him that he's gonna be better or treat him better. And so Renfield believes him and destroys, like the circle or whatever, so he can't be killed. Yeah, and Dracula then becomes free and doesn't change. He doesn't change at all.

Shawn: 8:22

Yeah, if, mind you, they have been Dracula. they don't actually estimate how long he's been around, but we could estimate he's been around for, like in this period film, hundreds, if not thousands of years. So he's already said it in his ways. Yeah, the fact that Renfield, at the time that he's joined Dracula for that period, should know that he's not gonna change. but he just had that glimmer of hope, that maybe, and then that was like I think he played on the human side and I think that's what got to him.

Kiley: 9:05

Yeah, because there was something that, just like in other toxic relationships, there's something that enticed him to this relationship with Dracula. Right, there's something that drew him there. Granted, he was looking for a way to better his family, but there was something else, i think, that got him to commit to being his basically his punishment, or whatever you want to call it for eternity, and there had to be something that was drawing him in. So I think the idea of Dracula being better and then existing as equals was, for him, made it ideal to like release him from that circle. But obviously, dracula doesn't change. He's. Dracula has been around for centuries. He's not gonna change for one person. He just doesn't want to die.

Shawn: 9:56

True, and so that, for me, is the opening is one of my favorite scenes, i think. The second is when we don't no longer see Dracula and it's just Renfield and you get like the whispers, like he does have some freedom, like he's out doing his own thing. But there's a part where he's essentially now the Aaron boy. He's in it's room for me to say that he has a color, like a theoretical color and leash, like he's allowed to do all this stuff. He's not so much attached to Dracula, because the Dracula is like now dormant somewhere but he can go out and do stuff.

Kiley: 10:40

But when Dracula like calls him, he's like telepathically linked, i think he can do it more when he is stronger, when Dracula is stronger like he can call him and invade his thoughts a little bit, but I think it's harder for him when he's weaker and he's lying dormant. So that gives that does give Renfield more freedom to to live in the world a little bit.

Shawn: 11:05

So one of my favorite scenes is it's a favorite scene because, like, obviously there's blood and gore, but it's a scene where Renfield is in a restaurant and he is just, i would assume he's just relaxing, he's just minding his own business, and then Dracula telepathically calls him. It's like he's hungry and he's like telling him he wants nuns, like essentially telling him what type of victims or blood that he wants to devour, and he's writing this down and his eyes are like going averting because there's cheerleaders like a bus of cheesers that drive by the restaurant that he's at, there's people that he's sitting with and then, as coincidence, a group of drug dealers happen to pull up in this restaurant with a cop also sitting in the restaurant, to cause a disturbance.

Kiley: 12:09

Yeah, Aquafina's character.

Shawn: 12:11

And he also happens to not to be a hero in a sense, or do the right thing and just goes to work and everything just goes haywire. And you see him in the first time eat a bug which allows him to get his. He already has super strength, but just be more vulnerable, and so that is one of my favorite scenes, because we do see him like he looked up until that moment.

Shawn: 12:44

I want to say, quote, unquote happy and tell you like he had a moment of like calmness before Dracula called him, and then it was like that sense of dread. Now I have to work.

Kiley: 13:00

Yeah, and also I think it's a prime example of holding on to something for too long and tell you get to a point where you're just exhausted at the thought of having to do it anymore, and so I think for him he's just tired of living life that way, and he was not. it was not a joy for him. obviously, maybe some people there are people who find joy with murder, but like serial killers.

Kiley: 13:29

But yeah, like An abnormal person should find the act of committing murder a little like uneasy and not for them, and I think maybe that it just wore on him. But yeah, i would say one of my favorite scenes is actually when he goes to the self-help group and Dracula follows him there And then all of them die And he just like he tries to tell him to leave and the people try, they allow, first of all they allow Dracula in And then they try to like talk to him like he's just a regular abuser and not like some weird fancy guy who just dresses like that for funsies.

Kiley: 14:17

Yeah, like he's over the top Like he's over the top and they try to reinforce boundaries with him and then he just murders them all And then subsequently later on, in the end, when they bring all those people back with Dracula's blood, they're just like thanks for saving my life, just so easy, peasy about it. Just yeah, i got my own turn off, but I'm okay now. So, yeah, i thought that was really. It was really just silly but also enjoyable, so I really liked that scene.

Shawn: 14:44

Yeah, because the death, like other red flags, were there, like he was, like you couldn't read between the lines when he was telling, when Renfield was telling you all this stuff, and yet when he said, oh, dracula, it wasn't like a code name for something.

Kiley: 15:02

I know Dracula. What does it mean?

Shawn: 15:05

And then I thought, going to what you said, when he was, when Dracula did show up and he was at the door, well, i thought it would be cool, which led into the myth, those vampires, that Renfield was trying to tell them not to invite Dracula in, and this goes into the legend of vampires, that a vampire cannot enter your home unless invited in. That, i thought, was actually pretty cool, is that there's those vampire lore mixed in there.

Kiley: 15:44

I don't know, who doesn't know of Dracula or any vampires, just like the traditional, the traditional excuse me characteristics or qualities we assign to them. So if there's someone standing outside a door and they're not coming in, don't invite them in. If you don't know them, Just don't. If you have a suspicion they may be a vampire, then maybe they are, and just better just not to know some things. You don't need to find the answer to some things. You can just leave alone. Yes, I feel like they should have known, but honestly, it's a movie so you can't really fault them for that.

Kiley: 16:18

I did think it was interesting and I enjoyed that part of the lore too, but I also enjoyed that when Renfield's living alone. The reason why Dracula can get into his apartment is because he has a welcome mat outside, which I thought was an interesting take, because usually it's someone has to welcome you, but I guess with a welcome mat they are technically welcoming you And I don't know why Renfield had that, but That was like an interesting take because essentially, literally, you are inviting them in.

Shawn: 16:52

So that was an interesting take. And another addition to the lore that now you should actually be careful because you're actually are inviting him to the house and Renfield's like you can't enter And he goes. Your mat said welcome.

Kiley: 17:08

Yeah, and I would say if we were to talk about what we thought were weak areas of the movie, i would say that's probably one of them, because if Renfield's truly been with Dracula for this long, i'm surprised he didn't know that was a possibility. Maybe welcome mats were just something he had an experience with, but I'm just surprised he didn't try to avoid it from happening, like he didn't try to avoid the risk, he just went for it, which maybe he was Marie Kondoing and he was keeping what gave him joy. I don't know, but I thought that was interesting, definitely interesting that he was able to enter the home like that. I thought it was a cool take too, because, yeah, it makes sense, it makes sense that he would be able to do that.

Shawn: 17:55

Also technology like they didn't. He didn't have access to technology.

Kiley: 18:01

Oh, that's. true, You mean Renfield, yeah.

Shawn: 18:03

That also limit his ability to be more brushed up.

Kiley: 18:07

Yeah, because obviously he's living in the real world day to day, but it's not. He doesn't have the same access and freedom that one would want. He's still beholden to Dracula. He has to do what he wants and a little bit in secret when Dracula is dormant and then also still fulfill Dracula's desires.

Shawn: 18:32

I feel like another. I think for me, a weak area of the film would be Aquafina's character.

Kiley: 18:39

Oh yeah, I was going to bring that up too.

Shawn: 18:41

Like her inception, like when they introduced her, i was like, okay, cool. But then as the film progressed on and you can get like the whole premise of her character's backstory, you feel like they should have brought her on to begin with. You realize her character is her whole family, his police. Her dad dies, was on the police for them dies and she wants revenge And you find out that the whole police is corrupt. Yeah, and that's the whole reason why she's doing what she's doing And I'm like So you give her a revenge story. That's the only driving motivation and the whole not just the police, but the town and community she serves, they're all corrupt.

Kiley: 19:36

Yeah, they're owned by this, this. What do they call them? The, i would say mafia. I feel like using the term gang has like negative racial under-johns.

Shawn: 19:46

It's a drug cartel family.

Kiley: 19:48

Yeah, like they. They're of that accord. They're like the mom, essentially, And they they have everyone in their pocket and she wasn't aware of it. But she finds out later that her dad was killed by the by because he was a good cop and he was killed by the people in the police force because he was good and they were all corrupt. So it it was a it wasn't interesting take. I think that she existed because it was supposed to show, like Renfield, that even in the face of extreme like hardship or overwhelming, like odds, that some people still choose to be good and still choose to be kind and that he could choose his own path too is, I think, the whole thing is.

Kiley: 20:37

I just didn't feel like Aquafina was necessarily the right person or maybe they just didn't give her enough. It's not that she's a bad actor, because I think, like Nicholas Cage, she's good in movies. She's been good in movies and she's been not so good in movies. I thought she was great in the farewell and she's been great in other movies where she's put, she's taken a community take. I just didn't feel like it was the right. It just didn't. It just didn't make sense, Like it seemed like they were trying to push it towards a romance, but it just also didn't really fit.

Shawn: 21:09

Well, she was getting jabs within the department. They were her own department, were making fun of her. So she was already at the bottom and so like she needed a win to move up, like she needed a big case, and so that's how it started, like she needed a big win, and then it just snowballed from there and I'm like dad, so that was her whole motivation. She needed this big win under her belt. And then it just opened up and you didn't really get to the revenge part until like later in the film, towards the third act, and at that point I don't think it really mattered.

Kiley: 21:53

Yeah, And also I think they throw in her sister's character too, as a as more like incentive for her to be to have a revenge arc or that's not the right word, not revenge, but motivation.

Kiley: 22:09

It's like motivation, yeah, to have the, to just have her dad recognized and for everyone to recognize that, like what happened to him and like what the hell the department is. But her sister and her were just not in it enough that when they at the end her sister's under threat like I just didn't see her. I wouldn't have seriously believed that Aquafina cared about her just because it didn't feel like she did.

Shawn: 22:38

I think that's a contributed to it. That's for me. That's my weakest moment is that her Aquafina's character, how she was written and then how much time they gave her within the storyline. I didn't feel attached to her character to for me to be invested. I feel like the character that she had hindered the movie and it didn't do it justice. So the payoff wasn't as great.

Kiley: 23:03

Yeah, i think that if they had focused, pulled a little bit more from Dracula, like added more Nicholas Cage and tried to add a little bit more of that into the movie and maybe a little bit less of her arc, it would have been. That probably would have been better. I do think that they added it. Most movies follow an A and B and C plot point. You have your main plot point, which is A, which is the relationship between Rand Field and Dracula. Then you have the plot B, which is the Aquafina's character, and then you have the plot C, which is the corrupt city and all of that, and so it's interesting. I think they tried to tie it all together and gave it a reason why Dracula would work with the mafia. Towards the end of the movie when he ends up, what's that guy? I don't know his name, but he's really funny. He played the crime boss's son.

Shawn: 23:57

I think it's Ben.

Kiley: 23:59

I always think of him, as I think you're right, ben Schwartz, he's from Parks and Rec. He did a great job. I have to say He did a really great job. He's very funny, naturally, and he was very funny in it. I really enjoyed it. I believed him. He did a great job. And he ends up at one point, him and his mother and their crime syndicate, or whatever, end up joining forces with Dracula, which It makes sense to a certain degree, but also doesn't, because it's Dracula, like he doesn't necessarily need them, but he does because he wants Renfield. And yeah, i don't know, i feel like that could have been time spent on Dracula and Renfield rather than on Aquafina's story arc.

Shawn: 24:44

But What are some of your weakest moments?

Kiley: 24:48

I agree with Aquafina being one of them. I didn't necessarily. I just didn't feel like they gave. Either they needed to give more to her, like more depth to her character, or they needed to take some away, Because if Renfield's going to help her, you want to believe that he also has a reason to be invested in her And he's been around for centuries, So why would he be invested in this? one person was the feeling that I got, And maybe it's just that he wanted to change, but it just was. It was a little bit off for me. I think they also were kind of sell a romance, but it just didn't come across.

Shawn: 25:22

That's what I thought too.

Kiley: 25:24

I just ended up not doing it, but the vibes were definitely like we're going to sell a romance and it just didn't really work. They didn't seem like two characters that that would be interested in each other romantically.

Shawn: 25:36

Or at least like somehow him running to a descendant of his bloodline because his wife and his kids like survived, So his blood like his heir.

Kiley: 25:48

Yeah, that would have been more interesting if they had done something like that, like he runs into one of his descendants or something and then starts to criticize his involvement with Dracula.

Shawn: 25:59

Like reconnects, like things like that, or someone from his family ends up like hunting down.

Kiley: 26:06

Or even if he they had chosen to follow him, separating himself from Dracula and then Dracula having to learn how to navigate the world without a henchman. I think one of the weaker points, too, is that they didn't really describe enough about Renfield and Dracula. Like why does eating bugs give him life and powers? Even though it's not blood he has to eat, like actual whole bugs. So why is it that? And then like why hasn't Dracula tried to get more people under his throat, because it's very clear he can get others, because he does with Ben Schwartz's character. Why has Dracula committed to being hidden, like those types of things? it would have been interesting.

Kiley: 26:53

I think it was a weak point that they didn't put more of their own lore or spin on it, because that would have been that would have been more interesting to see that have a different take, because they already did some cool stuff with it. And he looks like Nesferatu, which from the old black and white movie. he looks like that idea of the vampire. So they could have done so much more, but I feel like they took it in a kind of more predictable direction. Also, don't be afraid, just make it gay. It's Pride Month, like he was. they were given some real get queer undertones, and I was here for it And that would have been even more interesting. Why not make him a fabulous gay vampire Like? why not Nicholas Cage could do it. I believe in him.

Shawn: 27:40

Yeah, they could have gone so many different directions with it. Like Dracula in the modern world, how does he entertain being in the modern world? Like at the third act, i felt like they were going there. When he finally realizes, oh, modern world, i could dominate, can be essentially a god. I could use these people to influence this and become a god.

Shawn: 28:05

And I feel like that's the Dracula that you're looking for. You're looking like I've been away for so long and now, with your influences, i don't have to be in the shadows. I could just with the tone that he used, like there are the cattle, there's the worshipers and the cattle, and like those were the terms that he used to describe people, this new world order that he was going to create, and like that's the direction. Like if there was going to be like a modern day Dracula film with going forward, that's the movie you want to watch. It's like here he is, they uncovered him. He's been dormant, but he's also been in the shadows, but he's been like in the shadows monitoring things. And now he's like I'm coming back, world domination. Because how would we react to a Dracula now who has supernatural abilities who can't be? obviously we have technology, but like supernatural abilities, who can manipulate people by speaking?

Kiley: 29:07

transform.

Shawn: 29:08

There's no way for us to counteract that except like come at him during the daylight. So that would have been cool if he would have went full force, which we did get a little bit at the end, but it would have been cool to see him, just like Nick Cage, put it on like a hundred percent at the end.

Kiley: 29:25

Yeah, Nick Cage did great, Like he was assigned a job and he did what needed to be done. It would have been cool too if they had I know it's probably asking too much, because we all are aware of the myth of Dracula but if they had gone into whether or not there are other vampires. If there's one, there's got to be others. Dracula cannot be the only one existing like this, As he turned other people. Can he turn other people? He can clearly control them by giving him his blood, but that seems to not make them crave blood, So does he do that? That would have been interesting to expand on that, but I think that they had a very specific focus that they wanted to zone in on and that skirt ended up going. It could have been better, but I didn't not enjoy it. I did enjoy the movie still. I thought Nicholas Cage did a great job.

Shawn: 30:24

And I think one of the weakest moments for me was like it wasn't the typical mythos. It was like a beer trap that was used to imprison Dracula.

Kiley: 30:42

Oh, yeah, like some magic or something.

Shawn: 30:44

Yeah, like some magic that I don't know if that's the real mythos that can be used. It was a different take. I was like Dracula is like all powerful and is supernatural, So I don't know if that's something that could be done. It was weird. They used cocaine to make the sigil, which didn't make any sense.

Kiley: 31:13

Yeah, that was actually pretty funny though.

Shawn: 31:16

Yeah, so that kind of. I found that to be the weakest point. I'm like they had to make the sigil and they used cocaine, so somehow that worked. But I'm like for me that was the weakest point because I'm like that doesn't seem logical if you're performing something of that magnitude. But okay, movie magic.

Kiley: 31:37

Yeah, and also I would say too, how they're able to use Dracula's blood to revive everyone who's been dead, some even for days. If Dracula's dead and you have all his blood, how would his blood still be good if he doesn't exist anymore? That's another thing that I thought was interesting. I will say overall, if I had to rate it I know I go back and forth between like one to 10 or one to five, i'm a scale of one to 10. I'd give it a solid seven. I would probably watch it again. I think that Nicholas Cage killed it. He's the gay vampire icon we all needed, we all wanted, and I think that if they probably won't make a sequel, but if they did, i would encourage them to explore other factors a little bit more. But yeah, i thought it was a pretty good movie overall. It was enjoyable.

Shawn: 32:32

It was enjoyable, and I'm right there with you. I would give this a solid A. It was enjoyable. Exactly I was looking for a Nick Cage campy vampire movie.

Kiley: 32:44

Exactly I know you're getting into. you don't have expectations that it's going to be an Oscar winning movie. You expected to be a good time and it was a very good time. I highly recommend you not to watch it and think about it as indefinitely as we did, but you can just watch it, enjoy yourself, have yourself a white claw or truly, if you're one of those, or a beer, or just lemonade, i don't know Later, light, yeah.

Shawn: 33:10

So this movie is what I would consider a rewatch, not like. you can watch it once, let it simmer and then come back to again if you're looking for another. if you're in the mood for a vampire movie, this is a good rewatch.

Kiley: 33:24

Yeah, it's a good one. It's one of the Nick Cage movies I'd say I'd rewatch.

Shawn: 33:29

And actually this is the second time that Nick Cage has played a vampire.

Kiley: 33:36

Oh yeah, because vampires kiss right.

Shawn: 33:38

Yes.

Kiley: 33:39

Yeah, i watched that movie when we were far too young. But yeah, this is the second time he's played a vampire. He's got a lot of film under his belt. He's got a wide array of films. He's played everything known to mankind. I will say that, yeah, I agree, I would consider it a rewatch. Usually you do a kill count, but I think so many people died in this movie I honestly couldn't tell you what the kill count was. And then people were brought back to life.

Shawn: 34:08

Because there were so many deaths and because few people were brought back, we're going to say the kill count is going to be non-existent because there was people that died and were brought back. This movie not going to have The kill count is going to be not applicable for this film.

Kiley: 34:25

Yeah, yeah, i'll just say, it was 15 million. I'm kidding.

Emily: 34:29

That's way too many people.

Kiley: 34:31

Like maybe that's something he killed over time, i don't know. Oh, one other thing too, before I go into the reviews is he talks about wanting the blood of good people.

Shawn: 34:41

Correct.

Kiley: 34:42

Which I thought was interesting, because I guess the blood of people who were bad just didn't taste good or didn't give them as much power and didn't kill him as fast, which was an interesting take.

Shawn: 34:54

The blood of the innocent, which they didn't go into depths about. that, which makes sense, someone who were like virgins and innocent, who didn't taint by doing acts of evil.

Kiley: 35:06

Which is an interesting take, which also makes sense, though, because you see that, with people who have committed murder across the other centuries, they usually will pick people that they consider to be. Some have picked people that they consider to be very good, like that one queen or lady who used to bathe in virgins' blood. She thought that would make her younger and more pure, but anyway, that's unrelated. My first review actually is going to oh, were you going to say something?

Shawn: 35:34

Yeah. So now moving on to the review section, where we're going to be picking reviews from Letterbox, so Kylie will be starting us off.

Kiley: 35:45

Okay, i have two. My first one is I don't know if it's pronounced jeeb, it's J-E-A-B-Iz-N-Boy. I rated it three stars and they said I want Nicholas Cage to gaslight me so bad, Which I thought was really funny, because that's really just too run-filled in this movie. But it's so comedic, like I can imagine Nicholas Cage trying to gaslight me and me just laughing the entire time.

Shawn: 36:12

So I thought that was pretty funny. Mine is going to be from user Tyler. Nick Cage could do twilight, but Robert Pattison couldn't do run-filled.

Kiley: 36:22

He absolutely could not do run-filled.

Shawn: 36:24

And he gave it a three stars.

Kiley: 36:26

Have you watched Batman with Robert Pattison? He could not be Dracula in run-filled. He just doesn't have it in him. And that's okay, robert Pattison, you're still rich.

Shawn: 36:38

So you're fine.

Kiley: 36:40

My opinion will not phase you or change your life. My second review. I think it's pronounced Saris, it's C-E-R-Y-S. They rated the movie one star, sadly, But they did put Olly Boyz, olly Girls. Yes, slay bisexual Dracula. I know that was funny. Apparently, i'm not the only one who noticed the queer vibes in this movie. What about you? What is?

Shawn: 37:07

your second one. My second one is going to be from Cheddar Popcorn, who gave it four stars. The plus in LGBTQ is whatever Dracula is doing in this film.

Kiley: 37:20

Oh, that's fun. I like that. The plus in LGBTQ is whatever he's doing. Whatever he is doing yeah, That's what we should call it during this month. Then be funny.

Shawn: 37:32

Yeah, because Nick Cage playing in Dracula He is just over the top. It gave him creative freedom to just be whatever.

Kiley: 37:45

Yeah, it was needed. This is the one time I would say, nicholas Cage, yes, absolutely, go balls to the wall as over the top as you possibly can. You're playing a freaking vampire who's lived for centuries Why not This must?

Shawn: 38:03

have been a dream to do. Not to mention he's in prosthetics.

Kiley: 38:08

Oh yeah, you're right.

Shawn: 38:10

He had the teeth I think a chin done. The cape was like leather.

Kiley: 38:17

Yeah.

Shawn: 38:18

He went in all in on it.

Kiley: 38:21

He really did commit and I approve.

Shawn: 38:26

But that is going to bring us this episode to a close. Any final words?

Kiley: 38:32

Not really, unless you want me to say I lost my hand, i lost my wife.

Shawn: 38:39

That's going to do it for us until next time.

Kiley: 38:42

Have a great day.

Shawn: 38:43

All right, bye.

Kiley: 38:43

Bye, johnny and his wife, johnny and his hand.

Emily: 38:47

Thanks for tuning into this episode of Second Emulation, where we explored the latest in pop culture movies, tv shows and anime. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple, spotify or your favorite podcast app and leave us a rating and review to help us reach more listeners. And don't forget to follow us on social media for even more pop culture content And to stay up to date on all the latest news and releases. As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions for future episodes. So until next time, keep on emulating and stay tuned for more exciting content.