Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Engaging

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. However, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the earth in torment for hundreds of years since he became undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has looked tirelessly for some woman who could be the reincarnation of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes offering humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with farcical scenes that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.