Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Romantic Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Entertaining

It’s possible there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. However, one must admit: his richly designed romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I might just favor to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Clever but Weary Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – 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 evil Count Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: Dracula has been restlessly roaming the earth in torment over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for a lady who could be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he willingly includes providing some comedy moments with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.