Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Outlandish but Watchable

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. And yet, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the earth in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for a female who could be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited 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 arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of worldwide travels wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that follow Dracula sprays himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

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