Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Entertaining

Perhaps interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. Still, it has to be said: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the evil Count Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty for his irreligious grief over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the return of his lost love. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to negotiate his real estate holdings and the tiny painting 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 sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he willingly includes providing humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with farcical scenes that result after Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.