Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Watchable

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted vampire romance has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Narrative: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: Dracula has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his faithless sorrow over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a lady who would be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to discuss his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he is not above providing some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, as well as absurd moments that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.