The film serves as both a critique of AI-generated content and a reflection on today’s easier entry points into filmmaking, suggesting barriers are lowering and signaling a broader industry shift without implying cinema’s demise.

AI is used to challenge traditional notions of cinema, highlighting its problematic aspects—such as vulgarity, exploitation, and environmental impact—while also pushing creative boundaries.

The fictional filmmaker Adonis Tanta uses OpenAI-like tools on an iPad to craft a movie described as a hyper-sexual, visually dense AI collage that opens with explicit vampiric scenes.

AI is viewed as a vampiric force that drains artistic labor, echoing themes of capitalism and parasitism in technology.

The project traces back to Jude’s attempt to make a vampiric Auschwitz-set scene with ChatGPT, which was blocked, inspiring Dracula as a critique of AI-generated imagery.

Director Radu Jude reimagines Dracula as an AI-driven, arthouse project that experiments with prompts and AI-generated visuals.

His latest film, Dracula, uniquely weaves AI-generated imagery and storytelling around a filmmaker using AI to create a vampire movie, showcasing his experimental approach.

Clocking in at nearly three hours, the film presents graphic, grotesque, hypersexual AI images designed to look ugly and kitschy, probing the aesthetic and poetic potential of digital error and bad taste.

Industry context underscores tensions over AI in Hollywood, concerns about deepfakes and consent, and warnings from notable figures about AI’s rapid rise in creativity.

Dracula illustrates how AI can democratize idea execution while also raising questions about ethics, quality, and the future of traditional filmmaking.

Radu Jude, a provocative Romanian filmmaker, is known for challenging internet culture, post-Covid alienation, and societal hypocrisy through vulgar, sharp critique.

The film remains self-aware about its AI origins, blending low-budget aesthetics with AI renders to critique AI’s role in cinema.

Despite controversy, Jude views AI as a useful tool with uncertain future usage, staying open to possibilities while acknowledging risks and backlash.