Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Entertaining
Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. Still, one must admit: his opulently crafted love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This is a part that he too was born to take on.
The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the earth in torment for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a female who might be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to review his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch
Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above providing funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, along with absurd moments that result after Dracula sprays himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
