Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. And yet, one must admit: his richly designed love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing

The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the earth in anguish for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty for his irreligious grief after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to discuss his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he willingly includes offering humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as absurd moments that follow Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and in disc format from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.