Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Passionate Reimagining of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Absurd but Watchable

Perhaps interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. And yet, it’s worth noting: his richly designed love story with vampires boasts bold vision and flair – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that looks like it presents a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest

Christoph Waltz plays a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent evoking the voice of Gru by Steve Carell from the Despicable Me comedies. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: the count has been restlessly roaming the earth in anguish for hundreds of years since he became undead, a penalty for his faithless sorrow after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a female who would be the reincarnation of his lost love. By cruel fate, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the modest betrothed of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to Dracula’s fortress to review his real estate holdings and the small picture of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.

The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire with a sure hand, and he willingly includes providing some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as absurd moments that result after Dracula sprays himself with a specific fragrance in 18th-century Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Ridiculous and watchable.

Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and in disc format from 22 December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.