Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Entertaining
It’s possible interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, I might just favor to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This character he seemed destined to play.
The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing
The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has wandered endlessly the globe in torment for 400 years since he became undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his lost love. By cruel fate, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair
Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes providing some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that follow Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
