Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Entertaining

Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the earth in sorrow over four centuries since he became undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Handling and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he willingly includes offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to farcical scenes that occur when Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.