Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Engaging

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. And yet, one must admit: his richly designed love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I might just favor to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the earth in torment over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has sought relentlessly for some woman who would be the rebirth of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to discuss his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Direction and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he is not above offering funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to comical sequences that follow Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and in disc format from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.