Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Engaging

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. However, it’s worth noting: his richly designed love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

The story is this: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to review his real estate holdings and the small picture of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he is not above giving us funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that occur when Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.