Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Watchable
Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.
Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role suits him perfectly.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in anguish for 400 years since he became undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who could be the rebirth of his lost love. By cruel fate, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to discuss 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 organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from providing humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
