Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Absurd but Entertaining

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This character that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the world in anguish over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his irreligious grief following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to discuss his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he is not above providing humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to comical sequences that occur when Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.