Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his richly designed love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This character suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish for 400 years since he became undead, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the rebirth of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from offering humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as farcical scenes that result after Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

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