Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Watchable
Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. Still, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part suits him perfectly.
The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing
The plot unfolds as follows: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in torment over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a female who would be the rebirth of his lost love. By cruel fate, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch
Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he willingly includes giving us some comedy moments with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to comical sequences that occur when Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
