Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Watchable

Maybe 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 opulently crafted vampire romance displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

The Veteran Actor as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow over four centuries since he became undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has looked tirelessly for some woman who might be the rebirth of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to discuss his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above giving us humorous scenes in the style of Mel Brooks – such as Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, in addition to absurd moments that result after Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and in disc format from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.