DRACULA - - Luc Warm

Review by Adam Donato

Luc Besson made two classics back in the nineties and has failed to truly connect with audiences since then. It’s crazy the posters for his movies still flex his involvement. “From the director of The Fifth Element, The Professional, and Lucy” doesn’t hold that much weight anymore. Lucy getting grouped in there is so cute. His latest feature is a Dracula remake because lord knows there’s not enough of those. This is his second straight film with Caleb Landry Jones in the lead as the two just previously did DogMan together. Not to be confused with the recent animated Dog Man. The big get here is Christoph Waltz who plays a priest determined to track down the bloodlust monster. 2026 turned in a great showing for January. Now Dracula has to compete with the epic finale to The Strangers trilogy and Angel Studios’  latest film Solo Mio to start February off right. Can Besson’s Dracula stand above the extremely weak box office slate this weekend?

The focus of this Dracula adaptation is on a tragic backstory and a hopeless romance. An eternal curse is put upon a prince after the death of his beloved wife. He spends the rest of the movie in pursuit of the reincarnation of his late wife. The movie being released a week before Valentine’s Day may not have been a coincidence. This angle seldom lands as even the human looking form of Dracula is more creepy in a gross way than he is Edward Cullen type dreamy. 

The look of this film is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the film does commit to the two time periods it’s predominantly trying to portray with its production design and costumes. The special effects on the other end leave more to be desired. Dracula has a bunch of mini gargoyle henchmen that look good, but come across as goofy in an otherwise serious flick. There’s a beheading that is particularly unconvincing and lame. It’s not gross out scary, spookily creepy, or thrillingly action heavy. It’s trying to capture all these things along with the romance, but none of it really lands in the way the film wants it to. 

Of the cast, Zoe Bleu is the standout of the bunch as she plays Elisabeta and Mina. Her character is the most interesting and she is given the most to do. Waltz is just a watered down Van Helsing and his scenes feel disconnected from the rest of the story. While he has a respect for the vampires, it’s not a personal endeavor for his character to overcome. It’s interesting to see him in two classic movie monster adaptations over the course of the last few months.  Landry Jones is most known for his ability to play creepy characters. He’s at a disadvantage as there have been many iconic performances in the role and he doesn’t really do anything to stand out. 

Besson’s Dracula fails to bite into the audience's necks. A romance that fails to capture the heart. It’s difficult when there was just an amazing Nosferatu remake just over a year ago. Besson just isn’t that dude anymore. January delivered on the horror so fans may want to look backwards for their scare fix. While not terribly bad, Dracula just fails to leave an impression this time around. 

Dracula is in theaters February 6th!

Rating: 2/5