Dracula Review – The French Director’s Romantic Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Absurd but Entertaining

It’s possible interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. Still, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

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

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: Dracula has wandered endlessly the earth in anguish over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who would be the rebirth of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he doesn’t shy away from offering funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with comical sequences that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.