Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Passionate Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Engaging

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. However, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the count has been restlessly roaming the earth in sorrow for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a female who would be the rebirth of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he willingly includes giving us humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as absurd moments that occur when Dracula sprays himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

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