Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Engaging

Maybe interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. Still, it has to be said: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.

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

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for a lady who would be the return of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the vampire’s estate to negotiate his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he is not above offering funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that occur when Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.