Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Engaging

It’s possible interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. Still, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to negotiate his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he is not above offering humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, along with comical sequences that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.