Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Reinterpretation of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Watchable

Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. Still, it has to be said: his richly designed vampire romance displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the earth in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for a female who might be the rebirth of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, along with comical sequences that follow Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and for physical purchase from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.