Dracula Review – The French Director’s Romantic Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Engaging

Perhaps interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. However, one must admit: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the earth in anguish for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who might be the return of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman is revealed as 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 the vampire’s estate to review his land assets and the small picture of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he doesn’t shy away from offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to farcical scenes that occur when Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.