Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Watchable

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. However, it has to be said: his opulently crafted love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take 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 Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played such a part earlier – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This character suits him perfectly.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for a female who might be the return of his lost love. Unfortunately, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to negotiate his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he is not above giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that occur when Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.