Dracula Review – Besson’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Entertaining

Perhaps interest is limited for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for stylish excess. However, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, such as a scene that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead

Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the world in anguish for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his irreligious grief over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who would be the return of his lost love. Unfortunately, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Humorous Style

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes offering funny bits reminiscent of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that occur when Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.