Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Engaging

Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. However, one must admit: his opulently crafted vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a lady who would be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch

Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he is not above providing funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula douses 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 starting December 1st and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.