Dracula Movie Critique – Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Outlandish but Watchable
Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. However, one must admit: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.
Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: Dracula has wandered endlessly the world in anguish for 400 years since he became undead, a penalty for his irreligious grief over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the return of his lost love. Unfortunately, the fortunate female 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 just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to review his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.
Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch
Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
