Dracula
In 1480, Prince Vlad (Bresson's "DogMan" star, Caleb Landry Jones) heeded God's call to vanquish the Muslims, only asking that his wife Elisabeta (Zoë Bleu) not be killed, but after succeeding in his military battle, Vlad was too late to save his beloved. And so the Prince renounced God and God in turn cursed him by withholding the death Vlad sought, turning him into the vampire known as "Dracula."
Laura's Review: B
Writer/director Luc Besson's ("The Fifth Element," "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets") new take on the Bram Stoker classic is a mélange of the original story, historical background on Vlad the Impaler and imagery from other films, like "Coppola's Dracula," with the climactic action taking place in Besson's Paris instead of London. I was expecting something schlocky, but was surprisingly entertained, the film's production ranging from the 13th century to the Court of Versailles on the way to a city-wide celebration of the Revolution's centenary, its star all in as its grieving lover, "Inglourious Basterd's" Christoph Waltz providing comic relief as a priest taking on the Van Helsing role. All this and animated gargoyles!
The film opens with a montage of the besotted lovers in their bedchamber having fun with whipped cream, rose petals and pillow fights, all set to the music of a wind up box Vlad has presented to his Elisabeta. Members of his military arrive to drag him away from schtupping his wife against a wall (he's pulled away in pants, belted at the waist) for an audience with the Cardinal (Haymon Maria Buttinger, "The Captain") where Vlad, warning that the battle will be bloody, costing thousands of lives, demands that promise of his wife's safety or that he go with her. This Impaler is apparently more a lover than a fighter.
We do get a long shot of Vlad and his men holding heads on pikes atop a mountain, taunting Sultan Mehmed II (Jassem Mougari) who retaliates by sending men after Elisabeta, who flees the castle in furry finery on horseback in a gnarly scene where bear traps snap on horse's legs, then Elisabeta herself. Vlad arrives just in time for her to die in his arms followed by a title card projecting us 400 years into the future and Paris. There Waltz's priest is exulting in Dr. Dumont's (Guillaume de Tonquédec, "The Double Life of Veronique") success in having captured an actual vampire. Maria (Matilda De Angelis), shackles not restraining her lascivious nature, informs those gathered that her master will be arriving soon to find his princess. Back in Romania, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid, "Tuesday") arrives to visit Prince Vlad, who now resembles Gary Oldman's bewigged, aged vampire, and is treated to a feast and the news that he'll be slaughtered. But when Vlad spies Jonathan's fiancée Mina (Zoë Bleu) in a locket, he is spared for locating Elisabeta.
A flashback sequence informs us that Vlad attempted to commit suicide after her death, throwing himself out of an upper window repeatedly before realizing his fate. Refocusing on finding his lover's reincarnation, he travels to Florence to have a perfume devised which will make women flock to him, but the debauchery and artifice of the Court of Versailles sends him back to Elisabeta's grave to howl at the moon. Back in the present, the prince yells 'Get down from there!' as gargoyles scurry like the Wicked Witch's flying monkeys to prepare for his trip with fresh horses and blood. In Paris, Maria, who has managed to escape, has found Mina and Besson hints at a lesbian romp a la "Vampyros Lesbos" while Vlad stops to spend the night in a convent that hints at Ken Russell's "The Devils." But of course that priest awaits him in Paris.
Besson's movie can be quite ridiculous, campy in places, earnest in others, but he has gotten a committed performance from Landry Jones and while a pale redhead wouldn't be the obvious casting choice for Dracula, the actor pours passion into the role, his love palpable, and the movie is never boring. There is some delicious dialogue, Waltz especially making hay, some of it effectively dramatic ('She is my salvation!' 'But you are her damnation!'). Costumes are lavish, the period sets impressive, all set to Danny Elfman's romantic music box themed score. Besson's "Dracula" may veer wildly in tone, but it has enough inventive spirit to take its place in the canon.
Vertical Entertainment releases "Dracula" in theaters on 2/6/26.
