Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Entertaining

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. Still, one must admit: his richly designed love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to negotiate his real estate holdings and the small picture of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from offering funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, along with comical sequences that occur when Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.