Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Reimagining of the Gothic Classic is Outlandish but Entertaining

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for glossiness and bloat. And yet, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor to it to Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Chronicle of Longing

The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has wandered endlessly the earth in sorrow for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his irreligious grief over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a lady who might be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (again played by Bleu), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to discuss his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above providing funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to farcical scenes that follow Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.