Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Entertaining

Maybe interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. And yet, it has to be said: his opulently crafted love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This character that he too was born to take on.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty for his irreligious grief over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to discuss his property portfolio and the small picture of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he is not above providing funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as comical sequences that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.