Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Watchable

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. Still, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing

The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the earth in anguish over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a lady who could be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to discuss his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.