Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reimagining 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. And yet, one must admit: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the sinister Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the globe in anguish for 400 years since he became undead, a penalty for his irreligious grief after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he willingly includes giving us funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.