Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining

Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in sorrow over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his irreligious grief over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has sought relentlessly for a lady who might be the return of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his land assets and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch

Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he willingly includes offering funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, along with comical sequences that follow Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.