Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Entertaining

Maybe interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that seems to depict a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the count has wandered endlessly the globe in torment for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a penalty for his irreligious grief after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a lady who might be the rebirth of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he is not above giving us funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that occur when Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.