Dracula Review – Besson’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Timeless Gothic Tale is Outlandish but Engaging
Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for glossiness and bloat. And yet, it’s worth noting: his opulently crafted love story with vampires displays creativity and style – and in all its Hammer-y cheesiness, I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. There are some very bizarre touches, like a particular moment that appears to show a geographic divide between France and Romania.
The Veteran Actor as a Witty Yet Careworn Priest Tracking the Undead
Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – it’s surprising he never took on this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 during the centennial of the French Revolution. So does the sinister Dracula, enacted by the body-horror veteran Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect reminiscent of the voice of Gru by Steve Carell of the Despicable Me series. This character he seemed destined to play.
The Narrative: A Tale of Love and Loss
The plot unfolds as follows: the vampire lord has been restlessly roaming the earth in torment for hundreds of years since he became undead, a consequence due to his blasphemous mourning after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a movie debut role for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has sought relentlessly for a female who would be the rebirth of his lost love. As ill fortune would have it, the chosen woman is revealed as Mina (portrayed once more by Bleu), the reserved future wife of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (enacted by Ewens Abid), who has recently been to the count’s castle to negotiate his real estate holdings and the tiny painting of the winsome Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.
Besson’s Handling and Humorous Style
Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes giving us humorous scenes reminiscent of Mel Brooks – like Dracula’s ongoing failed efforts to commit suicide post-Elisabeta’s demise, in addition to absurd moments that occur when Dracula sprays himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, that renders him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.
Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and on DVD and Blu-ray starting the twenty-second of December. It will be shown in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.
