Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable
Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, one must admit: his richly designed love story with vampires has ambition and panache – 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, like a particular moment that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.
The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the earth in sorrow for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.
Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch
Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes offering some comedy moments with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.