Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Ridiculous but Entertaining

It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. However, one must admit: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who would be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. Unfortunately, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to review his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he doesn’t shy away from offering humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, along with comical sequences that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.