Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Entertaining

Perhaps interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the world in torment for 400 years since he became undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the rebirth of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to negotiate his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to farcical scenes that result after Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.