Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Watchable
It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. And yet, one must admit: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.
Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. So does the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.
The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow over four centuries since he became undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a lady who could be the rebirth of his lost love. Unfortunately, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to negotiate his property portfolio and the small picture of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style
Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above giving us funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, along with farcical scenes that occur when Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
