Just when you thought Dracula had been dug up, drained dry, and left in the coffin for good, Radu Jude storms in with a shovel, a lightning bolt, and a smirk. His new take on the world’s most overexposed vampire doesn’t just rise from the dead, he kicks the coffin lid clean off.
The trailer for Dracula is pure chaos. It’s unhinged, unapologetic, and so visually insane you’ll swear your screen caught a virus halfway through.
Have you ever seen something so weird that your brain just… stalls? That’s this trailer. It’s like Nosferatu got fed into an AI blender with Black Mirror, Jackass, and a fever dream. Well, get ready cos here you are in for multiple Draculas, and not the kind you take home to mom.
A vampire sprinting through a hospital while pushing an old lady in a wheelchair like it’s the Transylvanian Grand Prix. Then there’s someone ripping out their own fang with pliers, because dental hygiene matters, apparently. Not to mention the gunshots, blood, surreal body horror, and enough nightmare fuel to make your subconscious file for vacation.
Oh, and there’s a kid complaining she can’t stake Dracula, plus a suspiciously janky C-3PO wandering around like he’s lost his Star Wars gig.
It’s extremely disturbing, it’s hilarious, and it’s everything your horror-loving brain might or might not need. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.
Now here’s the twist, Dracula isn’t just about monsters that drink blood. It’s about the new kind: AI. Jude doesn’t shy away from the tech apocalypse we’re living in. The film literally uses AI-generated scenes and kitschy nonsense as part of its story, and he’s flat-out said AI is basically a vampire, feeding off artists, stealing their work, and spitting it back out with no soul.
Which I guess is, twistedly poetic. The movie doesn’t just feature AI; it turns it into the absolute monster. Some of the visuals are so glitchy and surreal, you can’t even tell if they’re real or algorithmic hallucinations. It’s Dracula 2.0, the bloodsucker reimagined for the digital age.
But don’t let the madness fool you. Jude’s not just throwing gore at the wall. There’s meaning behind the madness. The movie digs into the topics of Romanian folklore and identity, warped through the Dracula myth. Labor and rebellion, including (yes, really) Dracula showing up at a workers’ strike and Love and decay, because even monsters need something to ache for. It’s part horror, part comedy, part protest film, all stitched together with the kind of creative lunacy that dares you to look away.
This isn’t your granddad’s Dracula. It’s a 170-minute acid trip that premiered at Locarno Film Festival and proudly screams “art-house insanity” from the rooftops. Some will call it brilliant. Others will call for therapy. But either way, it’s a ride.
Dracula releases on October 31 at a theatre near you. If you like your cinema strange, bloody, and too weird to explain at family dinner, Dracula is waiting for you.
Just remember: once you see this trailer, there’s no going back. You’ve been warned.
