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

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. Still, one must admit: his opulently crafted vampire romance 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. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that appears to show a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn 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. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for a female who might be the return of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to discuss his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch

Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he is not above providing some comedy moments with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and in disc format from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.