Dracula Review – The French Director’s Romantic Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Absurd but Watchable

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. However, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, brought to life by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

Here’s the premise: the vampire lord has wandered endlessly the globe in anguish for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has been searching, searching, searching for a female who could be the reincarnation of his lost love. Unfortunately, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the count’s castle to review his land assets and the small picture of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of global roaming in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he doesn’t shy away from providing humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, along with comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally from 1 December and in disc format from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.