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

Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable over 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.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. This character that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the globe in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the return of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his property portfolio and the small picture of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he willingly includes giving us funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as farcical scenes that follow Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and for physical purchase from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.