Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Engaging

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I might just favor over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for 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 in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: Dracula has wandered endlessly the globe in torment over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for a lady who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from offering some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that follow Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.