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

Maybe interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle such a part earlier – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the world in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to review his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.