Dracula
February 6th, 2026
MOVIE: DRACULA
STARRING: CALEB LANDRY JONES, ZOË BLUE, CHRISTOPH WALTZ, MATILDA DE ANGELIS
DIRECTED BY: LUC BESSON
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 129 MINUTES
It was only two years ago that Robert Eggers cast audiences under a cold, midnight-blue spell with his version of Nosferatu. Last week, shrouded in poor marketing and even poorer buzz, Luc Besson’s Dracula arrived in theaters- and it’s not very good. Although it borrows liberally from nearly every other Dracula adaptation, I’d still offer a mild recommendation simply because it takes such an unapologetically big swing. With awful CGI, impressive makeup, and a truly unhinged performance from Caleb Landry Jones, this Dracula sucks- with a capital S.
We first meet 15th-century prince Vlad (Landry Jones), returning from war and desperate to reunite with his beloved Elisabeta (Zoë Blue). Their passion is interrupted by the demands of leadership in wartime. While Vlad is away, Elisabeta is killed by enemy soldiers, sending him into a rage. Blaming the church that swore to protect her, he invites a dark curse upon himself, transforming into the undead. Centuries later, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid) arrives at Dracula’s castle and encounters the vampire in all his molten-fleshed grotesquery. Harker’s wife, Mina, bears an eerie resemblance to Elisabeta, prompting Dracula’s obsessive pursuit, while a weary Van Helsing (a visibly bored Christoph Waltz) attempts to return the creature to his grave.
As Dracula films go, this may be the strangest entry yet- though it pillages freely from Coppola, the Hammer films, and Werner Herzog along the way. There are stylized dance sequences, chaotic battle scenes, and the requisite blood splatter, but the tone veers wildly. It becomes clear that Besson also penned the screenplay when Dracula begins to resemble one of the director’s sleek assassins rather than a tormented aristocrat corrupted by longing. In one scene, he dispatches seven men in a room with action-movie efficiency; in the next, he seduces women using spells and- bafflingly- a magic cologne that draws every woman within range. The film feels split between two incompatible visions.
If nothing else, this Dracula cannot be accused of laziness. Caleb Landry Jones delivers a performance that is utterly committed- accent, physicality, and all- buried beneath layers of grotesque yet striking makeup. He appears to be acting in an entirely different (and far more interesting) movie than his co-stars. Meanwhile, Besson saddles the production with CGI gargoyle minions that assist Dracula in his killings. They are both distracting and visually atrocious, undercutting any sense of menace. In his attempt to differentiate this adaptation, Besson leans heavily into camp, but the erratic tonal shifts make it frustrating to watch genuine craftsmanship go to waste.
Complicating matters further is Besson’s own baggage following allegations during the #MeToo movement, which has left The Fifth Element director working with noticeably diminished fanfare. One senses there may have been a better film lurking within this version of Dracula. Landry Jones makes for a compelling Count, and the makeup design- evoking a fusion of Gary Oldman and Klaus Kinski- is undeniably striking. But it isn’t enough. Waltz is squandered, the narrative lurches from romance to ultraviolence without cohesion, and countless directors have handled this material with greater confidence. This is one version of Dracula that should have avoided the sunlight altogether.
2 STARS
DRACULA IS PLAYING IN SELECT THEATERS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6TH, 2026.
Written by: Leo Brady
