Dracula Film Analysis – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Watchable

Perhaps there is no great enthusiasm for a new version of Dracula from Luc Besson, the French maestro for polished extravagance. And yet, it’s worth noting: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – 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. Odd details emerge, such as a scene that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Witty Yet Careworn Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz embodies a witty yet careworn cleric fighting vampires – it feels natural for him to tackle this role before – who finds himself in Paris in 1889 to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, played by the expert in grotesque roles Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character of the Despicable Me series. It’s a role suits him perfectly.

The Story: A Chronicle of Longing

The plot unfolds as follows: the count has wandered endlessly the globe in sorrow for hundreds of years following his rise as one of the undead, a punishment for his irreligious grief after the passing of his wife, Elisabeta (a first film part for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). The count has looked tirelessly for a lady who could be the reincarnation of his deceased partner. By cruel fate, the lucky lady proves to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of Dracula’s wimpish land agent, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who has recently been to Dracula’s fortress to review his land assets and whose miniature portrait of the lovely Mina caught the count’s hooded eye.

Besson’s Handling and Lighthearted Touch

Besson organizes Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he willingly includes offering funny bits with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – such as the count’s repeated and futile attempts to end his own life following Elisabeta’s passing, along with farcical scenes that follow Dracula applies to himself in a certain perfume in historic Florence, which makes him compelling to the opposite sex. Outlandish but entertaining.

Dracula can be streamed online starting December 1st and in disc format from 22 December. It screens in Australian cinemas from 5 February 2026.