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

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for glossiness and bloat. And yet, it has to be said: his richly designed love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, including one shot that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

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

Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

Here’s the premise: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his irreligious grief following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has been searching, searching, searching for some woman who could be the return of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to review his real estate holdings and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch

Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming wearing flamboyant outfits confidently, and he is not above providing some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in historic Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is on digital platforms beginning on the first of December and in disc format from December 22nd. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.