Dracula 2026 Movie Review
Nathan Swank
February 4th, 2026
Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula has had many adapted film iterations within Hollywood going back to 1922’s NOSFERATU and 1931’s DRACULA. In 1992, Frances Ford Coppola directed an all-star cast in BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA with Gary Oldman as the title character. Just over a year ago, we got 2024’s Oscar nominated NOSFERATU directed by Robert Eggers. So it’s a little surprising to see another rendition at the top of 2026. Depending on how much you love the character and the genre, will probably determine how likely you are to see the newest DRACULA directed by Luc Besson and possibly determine how forgiving you might be of yet another telling of the prince of darkness.
DRACULA 2026 had an original title of “Dracula: A Love Tale.” A fitting title as this has always been the main story for Dracula who was a 15th-century prince who has been cursed for outwardly renouncing God after the love of his life dies. Dracula now believes he has found his lover reincarnated hundreds of years later. The thing that sets this version of DRACULA is the writing and directing styles of Luc Besson. 1994’s LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL and 1997’s THE FIFTH ELEMENT are two of my favorite movies. However, I think it’s safe to say while I admire the filmmaker’s vision, not all of his movies land the same way… including DRACULA.
Unfortunately, DRACULA hits on so many of the familiar notes we’ve seen before, but done better in those past versions and even super recently in Eggers’ beautiful looking NOSFERATU. Two major differences are Dracula’s playful montage of finding the right perfume to entice and entrance women, even garnering a choreographed, Gothic dance with women and the famous fanged vampire gleefully, bopping and winking at the camera, as well as a bunch of cute living gargoyles as Dracula’s minions. These additions are super strange, but at least bring a different light to the material and energize some of the boredom of retreading a familiar story.
I didn’t dislike DRACULA. In fact, I really quite loved certain aspects, specifically Caleb Landry Jones’ performance as DRACULA who was both passionate and haunting. At first glance the makeup was off, but quickly grew on me as a masterful interpretation of the eternally cursed monster. I also enjoyed Christoph Waltz who pulled double duty in classic horror movies having a starring role in Guillermo del Toro’s 2025’s FRANKENSTEIN. And I quite appreciated the bonkers humor, that many might be what turns off others. I would have loved to see Besson go further with some of the silly, off-the-wall moments and be more consistent taking us down that strange path. Instead, the film is uneven, sticking to the classic story that has quite frankly been told better and dabbling in odd moments that doesn’t make sense since they didn’t push that aspect further.
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