Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Passionate Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the globe 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 wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has sought relentlessly for some woman who would be the rebirth of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from giving us humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with farcical scenes that result after Dracula sprays himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.