Dracula — Dracula(VOD)

If you're a Dracula purist expecting Bram Stoker's novel brought to life, look away now. Luc Besson's Dracula 2025 is an operatic tragedy dressed in Gothic romance; a love story that spans 400 years, soaked in blood and longing.

 

The story begins in 1480 AD with Prince Vladimir (Caleb Landry Jones) and his beloved Elisabeta (Zoë Bleu), who are utterly consumed by their love for each other. A mechanical music box score creeps in straight away, which gives that eerie feel, and the kind of sound that whispers nothing good will last. As their passion intensifies, light breaks through the windows, highlighting their faces, and you know immediately that these two souls will be at the heart of this story. The intimate scenes between them aren't just there for titillation; they're raw, passionate, and essential to understanding the depth of what Vladimir is about to lose.

 

When war calls, Vladimir is marched off by his men, and he sends his wife, Elisabeta, off to a safe castle surrounded by guards. He stops off to be blessed by the priest (Haymon Maria Buttinger) before leaving himself, and he demands that the priest tell God to keep his love safe and leaves for war against the Turkish Muslims. We already know how this will end, but watching it unfold is still devastating. The battle sequence that follows is beautifully brutal, vicious, and expertly choreographed (a big step up from the 90s adaptation). Meanwhile, Elisabeta's tragic end unfolds with devastating inevitability.

 

When Vladimir finds his wife already gone, he marches back to the priest, takes his anger out on him and God, but ends up putting a curse on himself. Fast forward 400 years, and the Count is living alone, pining for his only love, a shrivelled figure, getting by drinking the bare minimum amount of blood from rats that happen to cross his path; he has spent years travelling the world in search of her. We then meet a priest (Christoph Waltz) who is hunting the Count. His investigation leads to an asylum where one of Dracula's vampire servants, Maria (Matilda De Angelis), has been committed after attacking a clergyman on her wedding day. She's beautiful, feral, and utterly compelling, stealing every scene with her wild-eyed intensity. Some people say she overacted; I say she acted deliciously unhinged. She has already found Elisabeta, but can't tell her master because she is chained up and being interrogated at the asylum.

 

I won't go into too much more detail about the story, as you won't have anything to watch, but what I will say is that, despite no prominent A-list names, the casting is exceptional. Caleb Landry Jones delivers a career-defining performance! Magnetic, tortured, seductive, and heartbreaking in equal measure. When he breaks into Elisabeta's grave, the raw agony in that performance is gut-wrenching. I don't often connect with characters this deeply, but he completely pulled me in.

 

The €45 million budget is evident in every meticulously crafted detail, and Besson's signature is unmistakable: bold, operatic, and perfectly capturing the Cinéma du look style for which he is famous. The visual consistency never wavers. Every shot, every costume, every bit of colour grading locks you into Besson's vision. There's humour woven through, unexpected and perfectly timed, that makes the film even more engaging. Halfway through, it shifts into a musical, operatic segment, where it tells a story through the ages, reminiscent of the band Apocalyptica's music videos. It shouldn't work, but it absolutely does, capturing centuries of longing in movement and sound.

 

I found myself genuinely invested in everyone. Dracula, the solicitor (Ewans Abid), and even the little goblin creatures who reveal their true forms at the end. There's gore and horror, but even though I don't think it's really a horror film, the whole thing knows what it is from start to finish and sticks to it. It's Gothic romance, tragic, seductive, funny, and deeply soulful, a blood-soaked opera about eternal love. There are so many individual moments I want to highlight, little laughs, clutching of heart, tears, but I'd be here all day.

 

The ending stumbles slightly. A love that has endured centuries deserved a more emotionally complex resolution.

 

Still, Dracula: A Love Tale is a work of art. Don't watch it & compare it to every version that came before. Let it stand on its own. Watch with fresh eyes and an open heart. It's beautiful, hypnotic, and deserves far more love than it's getting.