Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Absurd but Engaging

Perhaps interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. And yet, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the evil Count Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: Dracula has wandered endlessly the world in sorrow over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he willingly includes offering humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.