“Dracula: A love tale” is Luc Besson’s attempt to take a fresh look at one of the most famous characters in world culture. The plot centers on the figure of the Count, familiar from classic stories, but this time the authors rely on a romantic line, trying to combine the Gothic atmosphere with a drama about feelings and passions. There are dark castles, night streets, and scenes that should keep you in suspense, but at the same time, the film tries to reveal another, «more human» side of the legendary vampire. This version of the story was supposed to combine a mystical thriller and tragic love, creating a new take on the classic story. But something didn’t work out.
Pluses:
some action scenes closer to the ending look good
Minuses:
a weak script without an inner feat of the characters, zero chemistry between the characters, uninteresting characters, cardboard acting, even the legendary Christoph Waltz does not play, but simply exists in this film, it seems that Luc Besson is losing his directorial power
“Dracula: A love tale”
Genre horror, melodrama, fantasy, …
Director Luc Besson
Starring Caleb Landry Jones, Zoe Blue Sidel, Christoph Waltz, and others.
Premiere August 7, 2025, cinemas
Everything you need to know about the new movie “Dracula: A love tale” — is about how far a director who was once iconic and now is just plain tired can go. Luc Besson, the author of “Leon” and “The Fifth Element”, sat down in the director’s chair again and proved once again that he doesn’t understand why he did it in the first place. The film tries to modernize the vampire myth, to make it more dramatic, deeper, maybe even more romantic. But the result is something like an unfinished fanfiction parody that doesn’t know what it wants to be.
This is not a thriller, horror, drama, and definitely not a gothic story. It’s a formulaic mess that is afraid of any bold thought.
Everything is so helpless that it’s not worth mentioning Eggers’ “Nosferatu” It becomes painful, because the contrast is simply catastrophic. There was an incredible film adaptation that managed to both scare and make you feel for the characters. And here it looks like a report for investors.
The plot is based on yet another adaptation of the classic Dracula story, which is presented with a pretense of tragedy and love. But the script is written so superficially that you immediately forget not only about the motivations of the characters, but also about them. The characters here are not people, not myths, not archetypes. They are simply a place where the dialog takes place. Sometimes cringe-worthy, sometimes pretentious, but always empty. They don’t evoke empathy, don’t interest you, don’t keep you in focus. Each scene is like a recreation of a template that was not experienced, not worked out, but simply filmed on automatic.
Even Christoph Waltz, who is hard to make boring, manages to be nothing at all here. This is the most cardboard Walz of the last 10 years. He plays an old priest, and a vampire hunter at the same time, who seems to have drama in him, but it is not visible. It is not read in his eyes, not heard in his lines, not supported visually. It seems as if Walz himself does not believe in the movie and is just playing his contract, not his character.
The main character, Dracula, is played by Caleb Landry Jones, and it’s a completely passable, colorless role. His Dracula does not scare, does not intrigue, does not draw attention to himself. He just is. And this is perhaps the worst thing that can be said about the central character.
It’s the same story with the female character played by Zoe Blue Sydell. She tries to pull off the role, sometimes even tries to play it subtly, but she simply doesn’t have the material to play. Her emotions don’t work, her internal conflict is contrived. There is no chemistry between her and Dracula. They are close, but not together, everything is so artificial. It’s like a caricature that was just diluted with dialogues.
The directing itself is another reason to doubt that Besson is capable of saying anything. Once an innovator, today he makes films as if he is trying to guess the studio’s expectations. No author’s voice, no visual identity.
Moments that should be scary turn out to be banal. Scenes that claim to be drama look like a parody. The music is a template on a template. The cinematography is purely technical, with no style, no atmosphere, no mood. Visually, the movie is flat. The color is faded. The editing is chaotic, and the scenes flow into each other without meaning. There are a few action scenes near the end where it is clear that someone tried to add at least a little drive. But it’s not enough. It’s like putting a little pepper in a salted dish — it won’t get worse, but it won’t be tasty.
The problem is that everything here is frankly hackneyed. Even the love story itself, which is the title, doesn’t work. It has no basis. There are no moments that would reveal the characters. It’s just a set of scenes and kisses, followed by emptiness. And between them, there are attempts to create an atmosphere. But they are unsuccessful. The movie sometimes looks like a parody of itself. And it’s not meta-irony, it’s just ineptitude. A bad script. Bad editing. Bad presentation.
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