Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Watchable
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. However, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted vampire romance displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable to it to the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part he seemed destined to play.
The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak
The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the earth in sorrow over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for a female who might be the rebirth of his lost love. Unfortunately, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch
Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, along with comical sequences that occur when Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
