The Nicolas Cage version of Dracula is so outrageous that it puts to shame previous attempts at parodying the Count. Too bad the rest of "Renfield" doesn’t come close to being on the same level.

One has to wonder whether Woody Allen continues to make movies not because the passion for the creative act still burns but because this has become a comfortable habit.

What we have here is a godawful movie that, despite its general badness, nevertheless casts a spell of sorts.

Although made with care and competence and featuring a strong underlying premise, the film as a whole is forgettable.

The relatively straightforward bio-pic trajectory feels more like a Victorian/Edwardian era soap opera than the chronicle of a scientific pioneer.

Is too long by at least a half-hour for the surprisingly slight tale it has to tell.