Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Entertaining
It’s possible interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part suits him perfectly.
The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss
The story is this: the count has been restlessly roaming the world in torment for hundreds of years since he became undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for some woman who could be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair
Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above providing some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that follow Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
