How a New Dracula Movie Became a Focal Point in the Debate Over AI in Film

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Radu Jude’s new film, Dracula, features intensely disturbing imagery – mangled bodies and gruesome creatures – but what’s truly unsettling isn’t just what we see, but how it’s made. These frightening visuals aren’t the work of human artists; they were generated by artificial intelligence. The film depicts the infamous Count Dracula preying on victims in unsettling ways, with limbs twisting and mouths appearing in impossible places. The ghouls are equally terrifying, their faces literally falling apart as they dissolve into a horrifying, foggy haze.

Most stories would pause here for a neat little moral, but this isn’t one of them. Jude, fresh off his critically acclaimed 2024 film Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World and while awaiting the release of his new movie, Kontinental ‘75, didn’t have any grand statements in mind when he used AI to help create his version of Dracula. He saw AI as simply another tool – like cameras and lenses – used in filmmaking, not as a source of controversy.

AI was a major topic of discussion at film festivals like Locarno, Busan, and New York, where it first gained attention in August. Jude, speaking with TIME, surprisingly confessed he hadn’t anticipated AI becoming such a prominent issue. He believes the small size and low financial stakes of the Romanian film industry mean there’s little fear of disruption, as there isn’t much to lose.

Filmmakers in other countries might find Jude’s approach refreshing. He describes a freedom to experiment with tools like AI for quick shots – something that caused some debate when the Cairnes brothers used it in their 2024 film, Late Night With the Devil. While different from a classic like Dracula, both films fall into the horror genre. The Cairnes brothers, like Jude, saw AI simply as an affordable option when their budget was tight. Jude didn’t hire an AI specialist; he collaborated with Vlaicu Golcea, a composer and musician who was new to the technology. “We made the film in a very low-tech way, and we really enjoyed that,” Jude explains.

Jude’s views on AI align with those of many in Hollywood – people like Kevin O’Leary and James Cameron, and even companies like Netflix – who see it as a way to reduce production costs. However, there’s a significant difference: Jude, as an independent filmmaker, has to worry about money much more than they do. O’Leary, for example, is worth around $400 million. His suggestion of replacing background actors with AI versions highlights how his wealth influences his perspective. He’s primarily interested in the business opportunity AI presents, rather than its artistic potential – a typical approach for an entrepreneur.

The artist’s approach is genuine, but in the case of this Dracula film, that honesty results in nearly three hours of intense cultural criticism mixed with deliberately shocking and crude humor. The film opens with a montage of portraits of Vlad the Impaler, the 15th-century Romanian hero who inspired the Dracula legend, each presented in a way that’s playfully provocative. The portraits range in style from traditional medieval art to surprisingly modern images, like Vlad in a spacesuit. After about a minute, we meet the film’s director, Adonis Tanța, who realizes he lacks the skills to make a good Dracula movie. He decides to use a fictional AI app to create the film for him.

Jude’s film Dracula is built around heated conversations between the main character and an app (voiced by Jude), and the strange “movies” the app generates. These include a playful adaptation of Nicolae Velea’s romance novel Just So, a relatively straightforward segment; scenes from F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu mixed with a Romanian tourism ad; a version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that’s partially faithful to the original but cheaply made; a glimpse into a private clinic offering anti-aging treatments; and, most notably, a story of worker rebellion where Dracula uses the ghosts of soldiers from the 1933 Grivița strike to intimidate exploited video game testers. These scenes are woven into a main storyline following Sandu and Vampira, two employees at a *Draculathemed dinner theater who are planning to escape their jobs, their boss, their country, and the overly enthusiastic customers who participate in the show.

Honestly, this film is packed – and that’s become a bit of a trademark for director Jude lately. He really takes his time, letting his stories unfold at their own pace, and it feels deliberate. Like his other work, such as Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World and Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dracula uses personal stories to explore bigger social and political ideas. But what’s different this time is that there isn’t really a single main character. The film is structured like an anthology, and that choice actually gives a lot of focus to the AI-generated imagery Jude uses. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the AI is the star, but its presence is definitely noticeable, and I think that’s exactly what Jude intended.

Jude describes a key aspect of ‘artistic intelligence’ as the ability to turn restrictions into opportunities. He points to the story of Orson Welles filming a nude scene in Othello because of costume delays as a prime example – a creative solution born from necessity. He believes this kind of resourceful thinking is common throughout art and film history. In his own work, a limited budget was the challenge. He began experimenting with AI as a potential solution, and found its imperfections surprisingly inspiring. While AI’s creations can be flawed, Jude sees a unique, almost ‘digital trash’ aesthetic in them, and embraced the idea of using them in his project.

Jude doesn’t necessarily support AI, but he acknowledges it’s here to stay – once a new technology exists, it’s hard to get rid of it. He’s also uneasy about its unchecked spread, citing both ethical and artistic concerns. His film, Dracula, deliberately uses disturbing AI-generated images. These images are unsettling on their own, but also reflect the genuinely horrific views expressed by some of the characters. For example, one character at a dinner theater praises Unit 731, a Japanese research facility that performed deadly experiments on Chinese civilians during World War II, stating, “Torture solves a lot of issues,” and justifying it as necessary to protect their way of life.

While harsh feelings might seem to call for equally harsh art, Jude argues against the idea of inherently ‘ugly’ imagery. He believes no image is truly ugly on its own; its perceived ugliness depends entirely on how it’s presented and the context surrounding it. You can’t judge a single photograph or frame in isolation and claim an entire film is bad because of it. Ultimately, ‘ugly’ is subjective. Throughout history, artistic tastes have shifted – charcoal drawings were once considered inferior to oil paintings, and more recently, films shot on iPhones were dismissed. But Jude finds beauty in these formats too, simply a different kind of beauty than, say, a film made with high-end equipment by a director like Paul Thomas Anderson.

The way Dracula is structured and presented is significant. While the filmmaker, Jude, didn’t intentionally create disturbing images to mirror negative human traits, viewers have interpreted it that way. However, the unsettling visuals also offer a critique of capitalism. Jude explains that the low quality of the AI-generated images reflects how, in a capitalist system, you often receive the bare minimum for your money. High-quality AI results are much more expensive—a darkly humorous twist considering the technology is often marketed as a way to save money. Essentially, you get what you pay for.

It’s not just about the cost – new technology, like AI, can have much bigger problems. The issues with AI-generated content in films like Dracula go beyond just quality; they’re sparking serious discussion. Concerns range from the impact on actors, as highlighted by O’Leary, to the potential for AI to stifle critical thinking in students. Jude recognizes these dangers, stating, “I think it’s dangerous, and I’m not downplaying it.” He believes governments should either regulate AI, heavily tax it, or otherwise control companies racing to develop technology that researchers are increasingly finding less reliable with more use. He also warns that any AI legislation needs to be carefully considered to avoid political censorship. Until then, Jude feels powerless, much like the characters in his films facing overwhelming oppression: “What else can we do?”

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2025-10-31 21:07