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

Maybe audiences aren’t clamoring for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. And yet, it has to be said: his richly designed romantic vampire tale has ambition and panache – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that looks like it presents a geographic divide between France and Romania.

Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted 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. So does the sinister Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part he seemed destined to play.

The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak

The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his irreligious grief over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Dracula 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 (again played by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the vampire’s estate to negotiate his property portfolio and the tiny painting of the lovely Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above providing funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, along with absurd moments that occur when Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in historic Florence, which makes him irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and in disc format from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.