Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Passionate Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. Still, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires 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. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the earth in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to review his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he is not above providing humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as comical sequences that occur when Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.