Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Watchable

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. However, one must admit: his opulently crafted vampire romance has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – 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. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his faithless sorrow over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a lady who would be the return of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the vampire’s estate to review his land assets and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he is not above giving us humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.