Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Engaging

Perhaps interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. And yet, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This character that he too was born to take on.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who could be the reincarnation of his lost love. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from providing humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with absurd moments that follow Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.