Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining
Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. Still, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. This character suits him perfectly.
The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss
The story is this: Dracula has wandered endlessly the earth in anguish for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his irreligious grief after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a female who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his real estate holdings and the small picture of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style
Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes providing humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to farcical scenes that result after Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
