Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Entertaining

Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. And yet, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: the count has been restlessly roaming the world in torment for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his irreligious grief following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his real estate holdings and the small picture of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from providing some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, along with absurd moments that result after Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.

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