Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Watchable
Maybe interest is limited for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. And yet, it has to be said: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, it could be preferable compared with Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.
Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played such a part earlier – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the sinister Dracula, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to Steve Carell’s Gru of the Despicable Me series. This character suits him perfectly.
The Story: A Saga of Heartbreak
The story is this: the count has been restlessly roaming the earth in sorrow over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty due to his blasphemous mourning following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for a lady who might be the return of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to discuss his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.
Besson’s Handling and Humorous Style
Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above giving us funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to kill himself post-Elisabeta’s demise, as well as comical sequences that result after Dracula applies to himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula is on digital platforms from 1 December and in disc format from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
