At the moment Nicholas Hoult can be seen in the cinema as Dracula’s servant in “Renfield”. Hoult already took on a not dissimilar role in the zombie romcom “Warm Bodies” in 2013. The film is only available for a short time on Amazon Prime Video.
Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) doesn’t have it easy, because he is the servant of Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage). This means that his main responsibility is to provide food for his lord and master every day – and he has to get his hands dirty again and again. What has completely escaped him over the decades is the fact that he is trapped in a toxic relationship with the Prince of Darkness. Fortunately, there are self-help groups that offer solutions for this! Well, almost anyway…
Sounds amusing? It is, as “Renfield” proves, which is currently showing in German cinemas and scores wonderfully with the great interplay between Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult. But did you know that Nicholas Hoult was already in an extremely curious relationship ten years ago? In “Warm Bodies” he played a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer), who is fighting for survival.
Have you developed an appetite for the film and would now like to watch it on Amazon Prime Video? Then don’t take too long, because the unusual rom-com by Jonathan Levine (“Long Shot”) is only available in the Prime subscription until 31 May 2023. After that, of course, you can still stream “Warm Bodies” on Prime Video, but you’ll have to pay a surcharge.
THAT’S WHAT WARM BODIES IS ALL ABOUT
After a plague, a large portion of the American population has become zombies, walking the streets moaning and craving human flesh. One day, as the zombie R (Nicholas Hoult) heads towards in search of food, he sees the human girl Julie (Teresa Palmer) being attacked by some undead. He decides to rescue her and hides her in his home, an old Boeing 747.
Soon Julie realises that R is different from the rest of the undead. By eating brains, he has taken over the memories of his victims and is thus capable of emotions. He is also more and more able to speak complete sentences and from then on even refuses to eat human flesh in order to become more human again. Although R and Julie slowly grow closer, the latter has to go back to the city. R, driven by the desire to see her again, now tries to sneak into town…
BETTER THAN “RENFIELD”!
While “Renfield” “only” got 3.5 out of 5 possible stars in our official FILMSTARTS review, “Warm Bodies” got a strong 4 out of 5 possible stars. In his conclusion, our editor-in-chief Christoph Petersen writes: “Satire instead of soap opera – with ‘Warm Bodies’, filmmaker Jonathan Levine shows what is actually possible in the genre of teen fantasy romances!”
Although it was not as successful as the glitter vampire saga for a long time, “Warm Bodies” wiped the floor with “Twilight” at the time. Not only were the characters considerably more charming, but the humour-tested Jonathan Levine also succeeds brilliantly in telling a believable love story under completely implausible circumstances. So if you are watching “Warm Bodies” for the first time, you may well be surprised at how intelligent the script is and how biting the satirical approaches are after all.
