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

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance 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 seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the earth in torment for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has looked tirelessly for a female who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he is not above giving us some comedy moments with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as farcical scenes that occur when Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.