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

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing

The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the earth in sorrow over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the rebirth of his lost love. Unfortunately, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.