Welcome to the first film review in the Cinema Corner section of our paper! Read along every month as I write about the latest films (with some old movies sprinkled in between)!
Dracula (2026), or Dracula: A Love Tale, directed by Luc Besson, known for The Fifth Element, is the latest vampire film to hit U.S. theaters. Like many Dracula films before it, this is another adaptation of Bram Stoker’s original novel. However, Dracula (2026) attempts to sink its fangs into more romantic motifs than its previous counterparts.
After killing a priest and condemning God, Dracula (Caleb Landry Jones) is cursed to immortality and spends the next 400 years fervently searching for his dead wife, Elisabeth (Zoë Bleu), who has reincarnated as Mina. Hunting Dracula is a priest played by acclaimed actor Christoph Waltz, whose performance feels somewhat like an unintentional straight man compared to everyone else’s. Unsurprisingly, Waltz steals the show whenever he is on screen.
A curious moment in the film revolves around Dracula creating a strange perfume that lures women to him. Originally, he believes this will bring Elisabeth back to him, but instead it attracts every woman under the sun except her. I suppose this is Besson’s way of explaining Dracula’s uncanny ability to mind-control people. However, I question this choice in a film that already relies on a natural suspension of disbelief, especially given its genre and the nature of the story.
When he’s not searching the globe for his late wife, Dracula is hanging out in his castle with his strange and oddly humorous CGI miniature gargoyles, which have a twist at the end of the movie. Whenever they appear on screen, I couldn’t help but feel the tone take a dip, as the film struggles to distinguish itself as a romance or a comedy.
From a technical perspective, I must commend the film’s production designer, Hughes Tissandier, for creating such a visually striking world, which I believe to be the best part of this feature. In addition, Danny Elfman does some heavy lifting with the film’s score.
Unfortunately, the film feels like a half-baked attempt at a love story, as Dracula’s feelings for Elisabeth are never fully developed, nor does the film elaborate on any of her positive qualities beyond describing her as a “pure soul.” For a film so obsessed with eternal love, it forgets to show us what the word really means.
