Dracula Review – Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Watchable

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. And yet, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the earth in anguish for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a female who might be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to negotiate his land assets and the small picture of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from offering some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.