When Dracula Chooses Tragedy Over Terror

Why I Still Show Up for Dracula

By Valerie Cameron | What to See With Val

A Review from Someone Who Has Loved the Undead for Decades

Immortality Is Unfinished Grief

I have loved vampire lore for as long as I can remember.

Not in a passing Halloween way. Not in a trend-cycle way. But in a way that settled into my bones early and never really left. When I was younger, I was the girl memorizing Edgar Allan Poe, reading Interview with a Vampire every months, writing dramatic longing poems, and immersing myself in mystery, mythology, and the Gothic era because it made me feel older, wiser, and a little darker than I probably was. You know, I was trying to be as mysterious as the characters in the poems and stories. In high school art class during architecture week, I created what I thought was the best Dracula castle ever imagined and was determined to make a Dracula movie one day with that castle. I was a weird but focused kid when it came to trying to be mysterious. I think it other kids thought I was more odd than wise haha. That phase may have evolved, but the fascination never disappeared.

I’ve read almost everything — from Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Twilight (I know, I fought it for a long time and then jumped right in.) to the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I’ve watched nearly every vampire film imaginable: frightening, grotesque, glittery, romantic, mysterious — and yes, very, very bad. I’m familiar with the full spectrum of the undead.

Which means when a new Dracula film comes out,

I walk in trying not to carry decades of expectation.

Walking In With an Open Mind

There has been a lot of noise around this film. Some people seem to go into the theater already disappointed — as if it has something to prove before the lights even dim. I understand that instinct. When a story is this iconic, when we’ve loved it for years, we bring our own version with us.

It’s hard not to.

Whether it’s Dracula or even something like the new Wuthering Heights, long-time devotion builds expectations that are almost impossible to set.

But I try — very intentionally — to walk into every film with an open mind. Loving a story for decades doesn’t mean I own it. It just means I care about it.

And there were very real reasons I was excited about this version.

Anytime I see the name Danny Elfman next to something, like many, I get excited.

I am a huge fan of his cinematic music. His work understands how to hold darkness and longing in the same note. I knew his artistic ear would lend itself well to what I want to feel in a Dracula film — romance layered over tragedy, beauty wrapped in shadow. And in many ways, he delivers. The score carries emotional weight throughout and often deepens scenes that might otherwise feel restrained.

Then We get to Christoph Waltz. He brings something compelling to nearly every role he takes. Here, he plays the witty and relentless priest in this iconic story, and he plays it well. He adds a dry, intelligent edge — and his signature cheeky and subtle dark humor — that works more often than it doesn’t. His presence gives the audience a warm hug of oddity that we love..

And then we get to Vlad — aka Dracula — played by Caleb Landry Jones.

If you’ve seen him in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri or Nitram, you know he gravitates toward complicated, slightly off-center characters. There’s something unpredictable about him onscreen. At moments, he actually reminded me of a young Willem Dafoe — intense, angular, capable of fragility and ferocious at the same time.

This film leans heavily toward the Bram Stoker origin story. One of the biggest wins for me is that we see Vlad’s loss and longing more visibly and more bluntly than in many other adaptations. His grief is not subtle. It is consuming.

While I wish we had been given more interaction at the beginning of the film— more time to really feel his love for Elisabeta before tragedy strikes — once the film commits to his agony, it stays there. Jones carries that pain throughout. I also believe the audience as well as myself would have benefited from seeing the mysterious and talented Zoë Bleu as Vlad's Elisabeta before his transformation.

This version chooses to make Dracula less of a monster and more of a wound.

And that choice may divide audiences.

Now for the hard questions, when it comes to vampire stories, we have to decide what we want from each story or film.

Do we want a film that sticks strictly to canon?

Or do we want something that keeps the bones of the story but gives us something new?

In my mind, Dracula, Nosferatu, and vampires are three different entities within the same species. That may be a hot take, but I stand by it.

Nosferatu is plague-like, unsettling, almost rodent in presence.

Dracula is aristocratic, tragic, sensual.

The broader vampire mythology shifts depending on culture and era.

They are all undead. They all need blood. Some survive sunlight. Some don’t. Most of them are searching for something they can never quite reach — and more often than not, that something is love.

This film leans into that longing.

It is less about terror and more about unfinished grief stretched across centuries.

If you want a frightening, predatory Dracula, this may not fully satisfy you. If you are open to a romantic tragedy wrapped in gothic visuals, there is something here.

Before You Go

• Expect romance and tragedy over pure horror.

• Pay attention to the score — it elevates the emotional tone.

• Go in willing to let go of your “perfect” version of Dracula.

• If you love the mythology, look for the ways this film honors it differently.

Who This Is For

✔️ Lifelong lovers of vampire lore

✔️ Fans of gothic romance

✔️ Viewers who appreciate character-driven tragedy

✔️ Those curious about a more emotional take on Dracula

It may not be the definitive version for everyone.

But for someone who has lived with these stories for decades — from frightening to grotesque to glittering — I can appreciate a film that tries to emphasize the human ache beneath the fangs. And sometimes, that’s enough.

Dracula (2026) is visually moody, emotionally committed, and anchored by a strong central performance. The score elevates the experience, and the film makes a deliberate choice to lean into tragedy rather than terror.

It doesn’t fully deliver the depth of romance it hints at in the opening, and at times it feels restrained when it could have been more daring. The audience may feel it drags at points that lack some cohesion. But it is far from the disaster some early reactions suggest. There are some major flaws in the some of the character development, one character in particular I think is a complete throw away. I was intrigues by a lot of the choices made in this film. The look of the film, score, somewhat traditional makeup and costume choices and the ghostly suffering I was looking for in Wuthering Heights, all made for a unique journey. As someone who has spent decades with the undead tucked away in my head, I can respect a film that tries to say something new within an old story.

Dracula is In theaters now.

Grade B-

— Valerie Cameron

What to See With Val

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zq8tG5RKZQ