Festivals: Dracula (2025) by Radu Jude: A chaotic, meta, and political reimagining of the world’s most famous vampire myth
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When folklore, politics, and AI collide in Transylvania
Dracula (2025) is a bold, genre-defying comedy-horror satire from Romanian auteur Radu Jude (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World). Written and directed by Jude, the film reinvents the Dracula myth for the digital, disillusioned age — a chaotic mosaic of vampire hunts, labor strikes, love stories, AI-written screenplays, and cinematic self-parody.
Set in modern-day Transylvania, the film fuses myth and modernity: vampires crash union protests, undead legends meet corporate propaganda, and artificial intelligence attempts to “improve” Bram Stoker’s tale. Dracula (2025) becomes not just a retelling of a classic, but a biting commentary on capitalism, folklore, and storytelling itself.
Premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025, Jude’s Dracula was instantly polarizing — hailed as “a delirious fever dream of postmodern horror” and “a brilliant cinematic provocation.”
Why to Recommend: A vampire film that refuses to behave
Radu Jude’s most ambitious project yet: Known for blending absurdism with social critique, Jude transforms Dracula into a sprawling reflection on media, myth, and modern madness.It’s less about blood and more about meaning — a monster movie about the monsters we create through history, ideology, and technology.
A satire of storytelling itself: By using AI-generated scripts and remixing archival footage, the film questions the very nature of creativity in an age of automation.
Wild, funny, and deeply intellectual: From strike-breaking vampires to algorithmic gothic romance, Jude’s humor is razor-sharp — a mix of surreal comedy and cultural dissection.
Where to watch (industry professionals): https://pro.festivalscope.com/film/dracula
Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32448239/
About movie: https://sagafilm.ro/portfolio/dracula-completed/
What is the Trend Followed: Postmodern horror and meta-cinema revival
Dracula (2025) belongs to a growing cinematic trend of genre deconstruction and AI-conscious filmmaking, where classic myths are reframed through technology and social commentary.
Meta-horror resurgence: Like Poor Things and Infinity Pool, Jude’s Dracula dismantles genre expectations, making horror a vehicle for satire.
AI in cinema: The film continues a postmodern fascination with artificial creativity — echoing the experimentation of The Creator and I’m Your Man.
Political absurdism: Reflecting the Romanian New Wave’s tradition (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn), Jude infuses absurd humor into systemic critique — labor, history, and technology colliding.
Folklore recontextualization: Following global hits like The Green Knight and Lamb, Dracula transforms local legend into universal metaphor.
Montage as rebellion: By reusing archival vampire films and mixing formats, it echoes Godard’s Histoire(s) du Cinéma — cinema about cinema itself.
Summary: Dracula (2025) is part of the postmodern mythic cinema movement — where folklore, politics, and media collapse into chaos, revealing the absurdity of modern existence.
Director’s Vision: Chaos as critique
Radu Jude approaches Dracula not as a myth to retell, but as a system to dismantle. He weaves together narrative fragments, propaganda clips, AI scripts, and meta-commentary, turning the film into a cinematic collage of cultural critique.
Visual tone: Shot across Romania and Austria, Jude contrasts gothic landscapes with sterile offices and neon-lit protests, creating a surreal, time-collapsing world.
Method: The film mixes high-concept intellectualism with deadpan humor — blending the poetic absurdity of Fellini with the sharp cynicism of Charlie Kaufman.
Philosophical undercurrent: Dracula becomes a metaphor for power — feeding not on blood, but on stories, myths, and the digital attention economy.
Themes: Power, creation, and cultural decay
Myth and manipulation: Dracula is reframed as a figure of media control and mass fascination — a monster of collective imagination.
Labor and exploitation: A strike subplot mirrors modern worker struggles, where capitalism and vampirism become indistinguishable.
AI and authorship: The inclusion of AI-generated dialogue questions who owns creativity in the machine age.
Folklore vs. modernity: Transylvania’s myths clash with globalization and technology — the sacred meets the synthetic.
Cinema as resurrection: By reusing old Dracula footage, Jude treats film as a living corpse — constantly reborn through technology and reinterpretation.
Key Success Factors: Bold experimentation and fearless satire
Eszter Tompa and Ilinca Manolache: Their dual performances — blending sincerity and absurdity — anchor the chaos with emotional depth.
Serban Pavlu’s dark humor: As a union leader turned vampire hunter, his performance embodies Jude’s signature irony.
Montage and editing: The fragmented, multi-narrative structure makes the film a kaleidoscope of tone — comedy, horror, documentary, and sci-fi colliding.
Cinematography: Gabriel Spahiu captures both gothic ruins and industrial alienation, merging the old and the new with striking contrast.
Sound design: Industrial hums, chants, and AI-generated voices form an eerie, rhythmic pulse — half horror, half art installation.
Awards & Nominations: Acclaim for its fearless experimentation
At Fantastic Fest 2025, Dracula won:
🏆 Best Director (Radu Jude)And received three additional nominations at:
Locarno Film Festival – Golden Leopard (Nominee)
European Film Awards – Best Screenplay (Nominee)
Sitges Festival – Best Experimental Feature (Nominee)
Critics Reception: Brilliantly chaotic and provocatively self-aware
The Hollywood Reporter: “Radu Jude’s Dracula is a monster stitched from our own media obsessions — grotesque, funny, and alarmingly alive.”
Cineuropa: “A cinematic Frankenstein of folklore and politics — no one but Jude could make chaos feel this precise.”
Screen Daily: “Ambitious, exhausting, exhilarating. Dracula is not a film to watch — it’s a film to survive.”
Variety: “A satirical bite into modern mythmaking — from strikes to sci-fi, Jude drains every vein of tradition and fills it with electricity.”
Summary: Critics agree — it’s both messy and masterful. Dracula (2025) may divide audiences, but it cements Radu Jude as Europe’s most daring storyteller.
Reviews: A cinematic fever dream
Supporters: Call it “a postmodern masterpiece” and “a vampire film that laughs at itself and its audience.”
Skeptics: Describe it as “brilliant but nearly impenetrable.”
Audience consensus: “Strange, loud, political, and unforgettable — the weirdest Dracula ever made.”
Summary: Viewers call it a delirious meta-horror odyssey, overflowing with imagination, intelligence, and chaos.
Release Date on Streaming: Early 2026 (MUBI & Criterion Channel)
Following its theatrical run, Dracula (2025) will stream on MUBI and Criterion Channel, targeting fans of experimental, art-house, and politically subversive cinema.
Theatrical Release: Gothic absurdity reborn
Release date: October 31, 2025 (Romania)
Runtime: 2h 50m (170 min)
Countries of origin: Romania, Austria, Luxembourg, Brazil, UK, Switzerland
Languages: Romanian, English, German
Production companies: Saga Film, Bord Cadre Films, Creative Europe Media
Official site: Dracula production page via Saga FilmShot on location across modern Transylvania, the film bridges gothic myth and modern satire — a visual symphony of absurdism and decay.
Movie Trend: Folklore in the post-digital age
Dracula (2025) stands at the crossroads of AI-age creativity, political cinema, and mythic reinvention, defining a trend where old legends meet the anxieties of the modern world. It shows how even ancient stories can be resurrected — and rewritten — in the age of digital gods.
Social Trend: Reclaiming myth as mirror
In an era of misinformation, automation, and creative burnout, Dracula becomes a metaphor for our time — where identity, labor, and imagination are drained by the systems that claim to sustain them. Jude turns myth into mirror, forcing us to confront the monsters of our own making.
Final Verdict: Chaotic, brilliant, and bitingly original
Dracula (2025) is Radu Jude’s most daring work — an absurdist epic of folklore and futurism. Blending labor politics, vampire myth, and AI absurdity, it transforms the world’s oldest monster into a reflection of our newest fears.Verdict: A radical, intellectual, and unclassifiable work — the vampire film of the algorithm age.