Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Watchable

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. So does the sinister Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his irreligious grief over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the return of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he willingly includes giving us funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.