Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. Still, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, I might just favor compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: the count has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has sought relentlessly for a lady who could be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his land assets and the small picture of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from providing some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.