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

It’s possible interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. Still, one must admit: his richly designed love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: the count has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish over four centuries since he became undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who would be the rebirth of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his land assets and the small picture of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.