Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Entertaining

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. And yet, it has to be said: his richly designed love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and amid its theatrical camp, I might just favor to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the earth in anguish over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who could be the return of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to negotiate his real estate holdings and the small picture of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above offering funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as absurd moments that follow Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.