Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Romantic Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Watchable
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. However, it has to be said: his opulently crafted vampire romance boasts bold vision and flair – and amid its theatrical camp, I might just favor compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.
Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish for 400 years since he became undead, a consequence for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to negotiate his property portfolio and the small picture of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch
Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he willingly includes giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
