Dracula Review – Luc Besson’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Gothic Classic is Absurd but Watchable
It’s possible audiences aren’t clamoring for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and with its B-movie charm, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, like a particular moment that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered cleric fighting vampires – it’s surprising he never took on such a part earlier – who arrives in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone similar to Steve Carell’s Gru in the Despicable Me films. This is a part that he too was born to take on.
The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the world in sorrow for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a consequence for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a female who could be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. As ill fortune would have it, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the vampire’s estate to review his land assets and the small picture of the charming Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Comic Flair
Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of global roaming in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he doesn’t shy away from giving us humorous scenes with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that occur when Dracula applies to himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, that renders him unavoidably attractive to females. Ridiculous and watchable.
Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and for physical purchase starting the twenty-second of December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
