Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable

Maybe interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his richly designed love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for 400 years since he became undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a female who might be the rebirth of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to discuss his land assets and the small picture of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from giving us humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and in disc format from December 22nd. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.