Dracula Review – Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Entertaining

Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. Still, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with 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.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the sinister Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the world in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has been searching, searching, searching for a female who would be the rebirth of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to review his land assets and the tiny painting of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he is not above offering some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.