Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Watchable

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. However, it’s worth noting: his richly designed romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the sinister Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the world in torment for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a female who would be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his real estate holdings and the small picture of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes giving us some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.