March 12, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Luc Besson
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1480 and 1880 in Europe, the horror film “Dracula” (based on the novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: In 1480, a prince grieves over the murder of his wife, turns against God, and becomes a vampire named Dracula, who finds out that his wife has been re-incarnated as the fiancée of an attorney whom he has befriended in 1880.
Culture Audience: “Dracula” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Dracula” novel, filmmaker Luc Besson, the movie’s headliners, and vampire horror remakes that have clumsily made stories about love triangles and reincarnations.
Although this version of “Dracula” has impressive costume designs, this misguided horror/romance movie is a bloated and disjointed mess with an underwhelming ending. The tone is sometimes campy, sometimes serious, with an uneven quality of acting. “Dracula” tries to juggle its weak scares with an obsessive love story, some offbeat comedy, a song-and-dance interlude, social commentary about immortality and reincarnations. The result is a movie with an identity crisis—and that’s not just in reference to the movie’s title character, who is lovelorn vampire prince trying to find a woman who can come close to replacing his murdered wife.
Written, directed, and produced by Luc Besson, “Dracula” is based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel of the same name. The movie takes place in Europe, mostly in 1880, after opening scenes that take place in 1480. “Dracula” was actually filmed in Finland and in France.
“Dracula” begins in 1440, by showing Prince Vladislav of Wallachia, also known as Vlad (played by Caleb Landry Jones), in a passionate relationship with his wife Elisabeta Tremsckara (played by Zoë Bleu), who are having sex in their bedroom when they are interrupted by knights. The knights barge in to dress Vlad in knight’s armor and to take Vlad away for combat duty. Vlad is more of a lover than a fighter. He doesn’t really want to be involved in this unnamed religious war against Muslims.
Before he leaves for this unnamed religious war, Vlad visits an unnamed cardinal (played by Haymon Maria Buttinger), who says Vlad must fight in this war. Vlad replies, “I’ll fight in His [God’s] name, but I ask Him one favor: I want Him to spare my wife.”
Vlad says he wouldn’t be able to cope if his wife dies. It’s at this point that you know Elisabeta is going to die. The cardinal says he can only guarantee that he will pray for Elisabeta.
Vlad is in a remote, snowy area when he witnesses Elisabeta on horseback being chased by invaders, who are also on horseback. The invaders catch up to Elisabeta and capture her. Vlad tries to fight them off, but he’s outnumbered. Elisabeta is stabbed to death.
Consumed with grief and rage, Vlad storms back into the cardinal’s church headquarters and yells at the cardinal, who says that the cardinal is only God’s messenger. That answer doesn’t satisfy Vlad, who snarls: “Tell your God that until He brings back my wife, my life no longer belongs to Him!” Vlad then stabs the cardinal to death with a crucifix.
“Dracula” then fast-forwards to Paris, in the year 1880. Vlad has turned to the dark side and has been living as a vampire since Elqisabeta’s death. The movie shows later that his physical features have become old and decrepit because he has been subsisting on animal blood. However, after he consumes human blood and gets a new lease on life, Vlad reverts back to looking like the 30s age range he was in when Elisabeta died.
Meanwhile, in Paris, a 25-year-old woman named Maria (played by Matilda De Angelis), who’s originally from Bologna, Italy, is being held and chained up in the cell of a psychiatric facility. Maria is in this facility because she had an apparent mental breakdown during her wedding ceremony to a man named Henry William Spencer (played by David Shields). A doctor named Dumont (played by Guillaume de Tonquédec) takes an unnamed priest (played by Christoph Waltz) to observe Maria because Dumont thinks that whatever is wrong with Maria cannot be cured with medicine or psychiatric treatment.
Dumont explains to the priest that during the wedding ceremony, Maria “was seized with hysteria and a sexual appetite beyond comprehension.” Dumont has invited this priest to evaluate Maria because this priest also happens to be a vampire hunter. Maria writhes around, hissing, and laughing maniacally.
But what confirms that Maria is a vampire is when she tries to kiss someone and her fangs come out. The priest says he’s been studying vampires for a long time, and Maria is the first vampire whom he has seen being under captivity. The priest also notices that Maria has fang marks on her neck, indicating that she’s not a first-generation vampire.
Much of “Dracula” consists of flashbacks to show how Maria is connected to major characters in the story. Maria’s best friend, who comes to visit her in the asylum, is an ingenue named Mina (also played by Bleu), who looks exactly like Elisabeta. Mina is engaged to an attorney named Jonathan Harker (played by Ewens Abid), who has recently befriended a count named Dracula, who is the alter ego of Vlad.
When Vlad/Dracula finds out what Mina looks like, he is convinced that Mina is the reincarnation of Elisabeta. Vlad has a music box that Elisabeta loves, so he thinks this music box will rekindle Elisabeta’s memories that he thinks exist in the mind of Mina. It takes an awfully long time in this 129-minute movie to get to this point. In between, some of the flashbacks begin to drag.
Jones as Vlad/Dracula gives a committed performance that has only fleeting moments of being truly menacing. This portrayal of Dracula is more concerned about finding a new version of Elisabeta than killing people for their blood. There is bloodshed and fighting, but Dracula has his gargoyles and other minions do a lot of his dirty work.
The movie has somewhat tacky-looking visual effects for any animals or mythical creatures. However, the movie’s production design, makeup and hairstyling are above-average. Bleu adequately portrays her dual roles as Elisabetha and Mina. Waltz leans into the campier side of his priest character. However, many of the lesser supporting characters have amateurish acting that often distract from the story.
The awkwardly placed song-and-dance musical number in “Dracula” happens during an elaborate party scene, but it still looks tonally off-balance from the rest of the movie. “Dracula” shows hints in the beginning that it could’ve been a sexy vampire film, but that tone for the movie quickly falls by the wayside. “Dracula” over-uses flashbacks to stretch out Vlad’s quest to be reunited with his one true love. By the time the dreadfully dull conclusion happens, viewers will be wondering what all the fuss was about and why so much time was wasted on a story with a final decision that is more passive than passionate.
Vertical released “Dracula” in select U.S. cinemas on February 6, 2026. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on February 2, 2026. The movie was released on digital and VOD on March 10, 2026. “Dracula” was released in France and some other countries on August 30, 2025.