Dracula Review – Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Absurd but Watchable

Perhaps interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. And yet, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the return of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he is not above offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with farcical scenes that occur when Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.