Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Ridiculous but Watchable

Maybe there is no great enthusiasm for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the celebrated French director for polished extravagance. Still, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable compared with the recent, stately interpretation by Robert Eggers of Nosferatu. Odd details emerge, including one shot that looks like it presents a territorial boundary between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz portrays a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this character previously – who ends up in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. The same goes for the malevolent vampire count, played by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone evoking Carell’s Gru character from the Despicable Me comedies. This is a part suits him perfectly.

The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss

The plot unfolds as follows: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish for 400 years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment for his irreligious grief following the loss of his spouse Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). The count has sought relentlessly for a female who might be the return of his lost love. By cruel fate, the lucky lady turns out to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s feeble property handler, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who just traveled to the count’s castle to discuss his property portfolio and whose miniature portrait of the charming Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Direction and Humorous Style

Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of worldwide travels sporting extravagant attire skillfully, and he willingly includes giving us some comedy moments reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to end his own life after Elisabeta’s death, along with farcical scenes that occur when Dracula douses himself using a particular scent in 18th-century Florence, which makes him unavoidably attractive to females. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It plays in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.