Dracula Review – The French Director’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Watchable
It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. Still, it’s worth noting: 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 Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires
Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This character that he too was born to take on.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the earth in sorrow over four centuries 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, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a female who could be the rebirth of his lost love. By cruel fate, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch
Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes providing humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that follow Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
