Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, it’s worth noting: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the earth in sorrow for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his faithless sorrow over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has looked tirelessly for a lady who might be the reincarnation of his lost love. Unfortunately, the fortunate female proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his land assets and the small picture of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he is not above providing humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that follow Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.