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

Maybe interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the count has wandered endlessly the globe in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for some woman who might be the return of his lost love. By cruel fate, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to discuss his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he willingly includes offering some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that occur when Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and for physical purchase from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.