Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Gothic Classic is Outlandish but Watchable

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 opulently crafted love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and amid its theatrical camp, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, such as a scene that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the malevolent vampire count, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

The story is this: the count has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish over four centuries after his transformation into a vampire, a consequence for his irreligious grief over the death of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has looked tirelessly for a female who would be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (again played by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to review his property portfolio and the small picture of the charming Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson arranges Dracula’s flashback sequence of international journeys in various outrageous costumes with a sure hand, and he is not above providing funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.