Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Entertaining

It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. And yet, one must admit: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: Dracula has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a lady who would be the return of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to negotiate his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above giving us humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and in disc format from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.