Dracula Review – Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Engaging

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. And yet, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz plays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. So does the sinister Dracula, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This character he seemed destined to play.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

The story is this: Dracula has wandered endlessly the world in anguish for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who could be the return of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his land assets and the small picture of the winsome Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Handling and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of international journeys wearing flamboyant outfits skillfully, and he willingly includes providing humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself following Elisabeta’s passing, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is on digital platforms starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.