Dracula (2026)    Vertical/Horror    RT: 129 minutes    Rated R (violence, some gore, sexuality)    Director: Luc Besson    Screenplay: Luc Besson    Music: Danny Elfman    Cinematography: Colin Wandersman    Release date: February 6, 2026 (US)    Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoe Bleu, Matilda De Angelis, Ewens Abid, David Shields, Guillaume de Tonquedec, Bertrand-Xavier Corbi, Raphael Luce.

Rating: **

 There are those who will argue that the new Dracula is writer-director Luc Besson’s interpretation of the 1897 Bram Stoker novel. I don’t see it that way. To me, it’s more like a less stylish redo of the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola film starring Gary Oldman as the titular vampire. It feels like Besson watched it a few times, made a few changes to the story and filmed a version he could call his own. The mechanics of it are fine and that’s the problem. It feels more like product than art. It lacks heart and soul.

 I should have known Dracula (aka Dracula: A Love Tale) was going to be a disappointment with how Vertical relegated it to a February release date. I didn’t want that to be true. I thought it couldn’t miss with a director like Besson at the helm. He’s done some great work in the past- e.g. The Big Blue (1988), La Femme Nikita (1990), Leon the Professional (1994), The Fifth Element (1997) and Lucy (2014). I figured if anybody could make it work, it would be Luc. Sadly, he misses the mark. It’s supposed to be a love story, but it’s too workmanlike to achieve the desired emotional effect. It doesn’t feel timeless.

 You all know the story of Dracula, formerly Romanian prince Vlad the Impaler. He turned his back on God after He allowed his true love Elisabeta (Bleu) to die at the hands of the Ottomans. Cursed with immortality, he spends the next 400 years looking for her reincarnation. He finds her when Parisian solicitor Jonathan Harker (Abid) shows up at his castle to conduct business. He shows the aged count a picture of his fiancee Mina Murray (Bleu again). Sure enough, it’s her. He heads to Paris to reclaim what was taken from him.

 There’s one major difference between this Dracula and other versions. Vampire slayer Van Helsing isn’t anywhere to be found. In his stead is an unnamed priest from Germany (Waltz, Inglorious Basterds). He’s part of an order that hunts down vampires. He shows up after one of Dracula’s agents (De Angelis) is committed to the local asylum. At some point, he turned a bunch of women into vampires to help him find Elisabeta. Now that one’s in custody, maybe it will lure him out of hiding so the priest can deal with him.

 You may have noticed I didn’t mention who plays Dracula. That’s not an oversight. Quite the opposite, there’s a method to my madness. I’ll get to it in my own time. As I watched Dracula unfold last night, I thought back to the many actors who played him in the past with varying degrees of success: Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, Christopher Lee, Udo Kier, Frank Langella, Gary Oldman and Gerard Butler. They all brought something to the role. The same can’t be said of Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out) who plays him in Besson’s film. He’s rather bland. He’s never convincing in any capacity, not as a monster or a romantic. It’s not even his performance if you think about it. He looks exactly like Oldman did under all that old age makeup. It’s a shame because Jones really is a good actor. He’s just miscast here.

 It gets worse. The actor has no chemistry at all with Bleu who delivers an extremely wooden performance. She’s no more than a presence here. I couldn’t help but think how much better Lily-Rose Depp would have been in the role. At the very least, it would be ironic casting as she played essentially the same role in Nosferatu a couple of years back. Waltz isn’t too bad as not-Van Helsing. I wish he had camped it up more. Abid is terrible as Jonathan Harker. He makes Keanu Reeves’ performance in FFC’s movie look like Oscar material.

 Not all of Dracula sucks. The little gargoyle creatures running around Drac’s castle are pretty cool. It’s a handsomely mounted production. The sets and costumes are period authentic. The score by Danny Elfman augments the movie’s strange vibe. It has a few decent gory effects. There’s a dance sequence that traverses well into bizarre territory. However, it doesn’t save the movie from sinking under the weight of its tonal dissonance. It’s an uneven mix of horror, Gothic romance and goofy stuff. One could say the same of FFC’s version, but he handled it well. He made it operatic. Luc doesn’t manage it at all.

 I hate to say it, but this Dracula is a staggering disappointment. I wasn’t bored by it. On the contrary, it held my interest, but not for the reasons intended by its maker. In the end, it feels trite, emotionally hollow and entirely unnecessary. Maybe it’s time to give the old bloodsucker a rest? Maybe it’s time to give the old bloodsucker a rest?