‘Dracula’ Review: Fangs and a Lot of Fragrance
A review in Nytimes says Luc Besson’s extravagantly silly twist on the Dracula story is deliciously operatic, with Caleb Landry Jones as the title vampire who wields a signature fragrance to lure victims and waits more than 400 years to reunite with the reincarnated Mina (Zoë Bleu).
The film leans into camp: Dracula narrates his fragrance’s genesis like an Elizabeth Taylor perfume commercial and dabs it amid a choral-scored ballroom sequence in Florence. Christoph Waltz’s cheeky vampire hunter provides intermittent energy, while some effects, including random gargoyles, look unfinished and undermine the tone.
The review concludes that once Mina and Dracula reunite the movie loses momentum and the romance feels long and labored. The film is rated R for brutal knife combat, gore, throat-biting and sexual content, with a running time of 2 hours 9 minutes.