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

Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The plot unfolds as follows: the count has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has looked tirelessly for some woman who could be the rebirth of his lost love. Unfortunately, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to discuss his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch

Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes providing humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as farcical scenes that occur when Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.