Dracula Review – The French Director’s Passionate Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Entertaining
Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for a fresh take of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. And yet, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered romantic vampire tale displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, it could be preferable over Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that seems to depict a geographic divide between France and Romania.
Christoph Waltz as a Humorously Exhausted Vampire-Hunting Priest
Christoph Waltz embodies a clever but beleaguered vampire-hunting priest – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the evil Count Dracula, played by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones using a distorted Eastern European tone reminiscent of Steve Carell’s Gru from the Despicable Me comedies. This character suits him perfectly.
The Story: A Chronicle of Longing
The story is this: the vampire lord has traveled ceaselessly the globe in anguish over four centuries following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his faithless sorrow following the loss of his beloved Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, the offspring of Rosanna Arquette). the vampire has sought relentlessly for some woman who could be the reincarnation of his departed beloved. By cruel fate, the chosen woman proves to be Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who lately visited to the vampire’s estate to review his real estate holdings and the small picture of the lovely Mina attracted Dracula’s gaze.
The Filmmaker’s Approach and Lighthearted Touch
Besson structures Dracula’s middle-section history of global roaming in various outrageous costumes skillfully, and he willingly includes offering some comedy moments in the style of Mel Brooks – for example the count’s repeated and futile attempts to commit suicide following Elisabeta’s passing, as well as comical sequences that follow Dracula douses himself in a certain perfume in 18th-century Florence, which causes him to be compelling to the opposite sex. Absurd yet engaging.
Dracula can be streamed online from 1 December and in disc format starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
