Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Passionate Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Watchable
Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro 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’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. This character that he too was born to take on.
The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak
The story is this: the count has wandered endlessly the earth in torment for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his irreligious grief after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a female who could be the return of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to review his land assets and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style
Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he doesn’t shy away from offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, along with comical sequences that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
