Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Entertaining
Maybe interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I might just favor over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.
Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the world in sorrow for 400 years following his rise as one of the 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). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who might be the reincarnation of his lost love. By cruel fate, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the vampire’s estate to review his real estate holdings and the small picture of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair
Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he is not above providing some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
