Dracula Movie Critique – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Watchable
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This is a part suits him perfectly.
The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss
The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the globe in torment for hundreds of years since he became undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has sought relentlessly for a lady who could be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to discuss his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair
Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he willingly includes providing humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 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.