Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Watchable
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.
The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak
The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the earth in torment over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his irreligious grief following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to review his land assets and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair
Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he is not above providing some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to absurd moments that follow Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
