Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Outlandish but Entertaining

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. Still, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the count has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who would be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to negotiate his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.

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