Dracula Review – The French Director’s Romantic Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Ridiculous but Entertaining
Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for stylish excess. However, it has to be said: his opulently crafted romantic vampire tale boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer over Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened cleric fighting vampires – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the evil Count Dracula, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect similar to the voice of Gru by Steve Carell in the Despicable Me films. This character that he too was born to take on.
The Plot: A Saga of Heartbreak
The story is this: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the globe in anguish for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his irreligious grief after the passing of his spouse Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has looked tirelessly for some woman who might be the reincarnation of his lost love. By cruel fate, the fortunate female is revealed as Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to discuss his property portfolio and the small picture of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style
Besson arranges Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes providing funny bits in the style of Mel Brooks – for example Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to comical sequences that result after Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be unavoidably attractive to females. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula can be streamed online beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It screens in Australian cinemas starting February 5, 2026.
