Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Entertaining

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. Still, it has to be said: his opulently crafted love story with vampires has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

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 arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This character suits him perfectly.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish for 400 years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who would be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his land assets 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 wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from giving us funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that result after Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.