New York 2025 Review: DRACULA, Sucking the Blood of the Proletariat

Prolific Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude presents Dracula, a biting satire about the literary figure forever immortalized by Bram Stoker, and Romania's very own -- well, Transylvania’s to be exact -- Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Stoker's character.

After seeing Jude's riotous previous films, notably, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, I was expecting general mayhem and chaos, and I wasn't disappointed. But with its almost three-hour running time, the film somewhat runs out of steam midway through.

Dracula is a monster of a movie, stitched together with multiple movie-within-a-movie, story-within-a-story structure, which doesn't go unnoticed by its flamboyant narrator/filmmaker Adonis, played by Adonis Tanta. At the onset, Adonis is asking AI to help making the movie. The AI is called Dr. Judex AI 0.0., which generates horrendous AI images at the whims of Adonis.

Dracula is a decidedly and intentionally a bad movie -- it's not only aesthetically ugly -- shot in low-grade DV with jumpy zoom shots and old-school corny digital wipes. It also has a lot of dick jokes, fellatio and full-frontal nudity. As usual for Jude, it's a profanity-ridden comment on the state of the world we live in. 

The main thread of the plot in Adonis' film starts out with a Dracula-themed Romanian theater restaurant geared toward tourists, who are there for an authentic Transylvanian experience. These suckers are there to spend more than 1,000 euros to sleep with the Count, played by Uncle Sandu, an old, former mental patient who got swept into the business by the sleazy proprietor. The problem is, because of his age, he can't perform in bed. The night usually ends with Dracula and Vampirella fleeing, and tourists equipped with wooden stakes performing a hide-and-seek session on the streets of Bucharest.

Divided by chapters, often starting with grotesque AI-generated images with Adonis's prompts, there are many different takes on the history of Romania and the Dracula legend: there's a tender love story harkening back to olden times in the communist regime under Ceaușescu; a reincarnation story of the infamous Vlad the Impaler visiting his own castle, now a tourist attraction; a maize farmer who finds the crops he's been growing have turned into dildos (a love story from Dr. Judex AI, which needs an upgrade with a nominal fee). The most obvious satire is Dracula as an exploitative tech company boss: as workers complain about the long hours and low wages, he brings in his undead goons who suck the blood out of his workers.

As is always the case in a Jude film, no current event or persons of interests go unnoticed. Musk and Trump are mentioned many times, and so is the war in Ukraine. In criticizing AI, Jude uses a great number of AI-generated images to fill the gap of his AI-prompted stories, to horrific effect. 

Adonis's original story of actors who play Dracula and Mina/Vampirella from a theater restaurant  devolves into a violent witch hunt, where bloodthirsty tourists are after them, actively trying to put stakes through their hearts with the proprietor's blessing.

Dracula, probably the most well-known Romanian export, being exploited by the citizens in a rampant capitalist society, is on full display in Jude's satire. But it is the film's relentless assault on the senses and good manners that is its ultimate downfall.

As the animated dildos penetrated actors from behind for the umpteenth time, I wished the film, which had made its point from the get-go, had ended an hour ago.

Jude's Kontinental '25 also plays at the New York Film Festival. Dracula plays on September 27, September 30, and and October 3. Click here for more info.

Dustin Chang is a freelance writer. His musings and opinions on everything cinema and beyond can be found at www.dustinchang.com