Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Watchable
It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role suits him perfectly.
The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss
Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the world in anguish for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who would be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the vampire’s estate to review his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair
Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he is not above offering humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as absurd moments that follow Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.