Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Watchable
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. However, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.
The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss
Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the globe in torment for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has sought relentlessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair
Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula sprays himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
