Dracula Movie Critique – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Engaging

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. Still, one must admit: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies 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. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the globe in sorrow for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a lady who might be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he is not above providing funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to farcical scenes that result after Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and in disc format from December 22nd. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.