Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Watchable

Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. Still, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to 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 Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the count has wandered endlessly the world in anguish over four centuries since he became undead, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the return of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to review his real estate holdings and the small picture of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson structures Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that occur when Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.