Dracula Spin-Off Movie Renfield Is The Latest Attempt To Restart Monster Movie Series

After the notorious failure of its Dark Universe monster movie franchise, Universal is trying again to turn its classic horror properties into successful films. Following the recent trailer for the upcoming remake of The Invisible Man, it's been reported that a movie based on Dracula's henchman Renfield is in the works.

According to Variety, Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher is attached to the project, which has a script by Rick and Morty writer Ryan Ridley and was based on a pitch by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

No further details about the Renfield movie are known currently. Renfield appeared in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula and has been played by a variety of actors over the years, including Tom Waits in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 Dracula adaptation and Klaus Kinski in a 1970 version.

While Universal is moving forward with more classic monster movies, it seems that the idea of a connected universe has been abandoned. Dark Universe launched with a lot of publicity in May 2017, but it immediately stalled with the commercial failure of the first film, The Mummy, a few weeks later. However, while the Dark Universe website has gone, the franchise's twitter feed still exists, with literally two lonely tweets.

The Invisible Man is directed by Saw co-creator Leigh Whanell. It releases in February and stars Elisabeth Moss and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Beyond that, Bridesmaids director Paul Feig recently revealed that he plans to make a movie for Universal titled Dark Army, which he has described a "modern day version of a monster movie."