McKay was amused by the idea of Renfield and Dracula’s relationship being portrayed as unhealthy and codependent. One could easily imagine Renfield as a mad demon, happy to kill animals in a lazy attempt to imitate the bloodsucking horror of his master. McKay wanted to turn Renfield into a sad, relatable human bag instead of a ghoul. The juxtaposition of Renfield’s insecurity with Dracula’s evil was the crux of the film’s comedy. Mc Kay said:
“Yeah, the idea of telling a Dracula story, not in the traditional way that we’ve grown accustomed to from Dracula movies, but telling it through the lens of his assistant, his relative, someone who’s in a codependent relationship with him for 90 years. And to see Dracula as this metaphor for talking about toxic narcissism and a boss from hell, making a movie about the workplace, seemed like a lot of fun.”
It’s so funny, in fact, that there was a joke about it in the 1995 Mel Brooks comedy “Dracula: Dead and Loving It.” In that movie, Renfield (Peter MacNicol) found out that his teacher had been murdered and wept over his death. Dr. Seward (Harvey Korman) explained to Renfield that with Dracula dead, he was no longer trapped in a controlling, evil relationship. He is now his own man. Renfield stands up briefly, brushes back his hair, and enjoys a moment of freedom. When Seward yelled “Come, Renfield”, he instantly turned into a demon again and snarled “Yes, master”. Rimshot.
