Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Entertaining

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. And yet, 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 Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

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

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This character suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for a female who might be the reincarnation of his lost love. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to farcical scenes that occur when Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and in disc format from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.