Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Passionate Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable

It’s possible interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. Still, one must admit: his opulently crafted vampire romance has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the earth in sorrow for 400 years since he became undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, 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 departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his land assets and the small picture of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to comical sequences that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.