Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable

It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

The plot unfolds as follows: the count has wandered endlessly the world in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a lady who could be the rebirth of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, as well as absurd moments that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.