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

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. However, it has to be said: his richly designed vampire romance has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.

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

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the world in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has sought relentlessly for some woman who might be the rebirth of his departed beloved. Unfortunately, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to review his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he is not above offering some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with comical sequences that occur when Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and in disc format from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.