Dracula Review – Besson’s Romantic Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Engaging
Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his richly designed vampire romance has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. This character that he too was born to take on.
The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss
The story is this: the count has traveled ceaselessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years since he became undead, a consequence for his irreligious grief after the passing of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). the vampire has sought relentlessly for some woman who might be the return of his departed beloved. Unfortunately, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to negotiate his land assets and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Humorous Style
Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he is not above providing some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to end his own life post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as farcical scenes that result after Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.