We didn’t need another variation on Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.”
Director Luc Besson disagrees. His take on the vampire classic offers a strong romantic underpinning, a few nasty gargoyles and the sublime Christoph Waltz.
Turns out that’s just enough to bring “Dracula” back from the dead, even if the film’s tone flirts with camp on more than a few occasions.
The film opens with Dracula’s origin story, a sequence portraying the passion between a 15th-century prince (Caleb Landry Jones) and his wife Elisabeta (Zoë Bleu, daughter of Rosanna Arquette). Their lovemaking is interrupted by war, and when the prince can’t prevent her murder he lashes out at God for taking his beloved too soon.
Flash forward 400 years, and the prince is now an ageless vampire named Dracula in 19th century France. And, wouldn’t you know it, he looks oddly like the Gary Oldman version from Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula,” complete with a crazed hairstyle and wrinkled skin.
Yes, this “Dracula” takes bits and pieces from previous adaptations and the source material, drops them into a food processor and punches “Blend.”
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Dracula hasn’t forgotten his original bride, and as fate would have it a look-alike exists in this time period. That’s Mina (Bleu, again), who is engaged to a land agent named Jonathan Harker (Ewns Abid).
But before Drac can sing, “reunited, and it feels so good,” an obsessive priest (Waltz) enters the picture. He knows all about vampires, and he’s just the man to stop Dracula’s romantic reunion.
The Stoker novel eventually enters the frame, but Besson refuses to rely on the source material. He has wackier plans in mind.
He introduces crudely animated gargoyles to serves as Dracula’s henchman, outlandish costumes and haughty dances that capture the era’s aristocratic bent. It’s alternately gothic and silly, a wobbly tone that takes some getting used to, but it’s mostly worth the bother.
And, yes, “Dracula” is the latest film to go on far too long. The material doesn’t require this much excess, and the romantic beats work best when tightly aligned with the genre essentials.
Blood. Violence. Typical vampire fare. You still wouldn’t bat an eye if Evil Ed made a cameo.
Besson has an eye for beautiful scenery, and he wrings the most out of a budget that seems far from blockbuster-level. Jones throws everything he has into the lead role, stripping away any sense of vanity or professional nuance.
It’s perfectly attuned to the story around him. Phew.
Every time you expect “Dracula” to stumble, there’s a clever sequence or rousing moment to push past your inner critic. It’s never clean and often exasperating, but it’s a true original that refuses to fall back on horror tics.
Yes, Jones’ vampire is a killer with a sizable body count. His enduring love for Elisabeta grounds the story in surprising ways. Besson emphasizes the love story to plead his own artistic case.
He’s right. Turns out we needed the umpteenth spin on Stoker’s classic after all.
HiT or Miss: “Dracula” teeters on kitsch more often than it should, but it’s never lacking in imagination or heart.
