Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Reinterpretation of the Classic Horror Story is Outlandish but Entertaining
It’s possible interest is limited for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for polished extravagance. Still, one must admit: his richly designed vampire romance boasts bold vision and flair – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to it to Robert Eggers’s recent, solemnly classy version of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, like a particular moment that seems to depict a land border between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Humorously Exhausted Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz plays a humorous yet burdened vampire-hunting priest – it’s surprising he never took on this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones with a mangled central European accent reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role that he too was born to take on.
The Narrative: A Saga of Heartbreak
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the earth in sorrow for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a penalty for his irreligious grief over the death of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). The count has looked tirelessly for a female who might be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the modest betrothed of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the vampire’s estate to discuss his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch
Besson organizes Dracula’s middle-section history of worldwide travels in various outrageous costumes confidently, and he is not above giving us funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to kill himself after Elisabeta’s death, as well as farcical scenes that occur when Dracula sprays himself with a specific fragrance during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him irresistible to women. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and for physical purchase from December 22nd. It screens in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.
