Dracula: A Love Tale (2025)

Director: Luc Besson

Starring: Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu

After his wife dies, a 15th century prince renounces God and becomes a vampire. Centuries later in 19th century London, he sees a woman resembling his late wife and pursues her, sealing his own fate.

In 1480, Prince Vladimir’s life was shattered when his loving wife Elisabeta was killed after a victorious battle against the Ottomans – accidentally by his own hands whilst trying to save her. Prior to the battle, Valdimir requested the Priest to pray to God to keep Elizabeta safe. Upon her death, he kills the priest and renounces God.

400 Years later – cursed with immortality – Vladimir is still longing for his wife. He believes she will be reincarnated, and keeps searching for her. He finds her in the form of Mina, fiancée to Jonathan Harker, a solicitor who travels to Vladimir’s castle to enquire about purchasing one of his properties.

Christoph Waltz stars as Priest, who is familiar with vampires. He studies a vampire named Maria, who is awaiting her Master (Vladimir)’s arrival. When Mina’s life is at stake, it is up to Priest to find and kill Vladimir.

‘Dracula: A Love Story’ is a weird mix of genres, and some scenes felt unintentionally funny. With ‘Nosferatu’ being released just last year, I also thought it was far too soon to have yet another film based on Bram Stoker’s book. This adaption is an ambitious production in true Luc Besson style. It is a gothic tale of undying love, and one can’t help but root for Vladimir, even though he is the antagonist.

1992’s ‘Dracula’ was still by far the superior version of the book, and Gary Oldman’s performance as Count Dracula has never been equaled. The shadow effects in ‘Dracula’ were also far better and in general the film was more suspenseful.

With regards to ‘Dracula: A Love Tale’, I was a bit disappointed in the film’s first half, but it picked up the pace around the halfway mark, and the second half was thrilling and action-packed, with a good climax. In general, ‘Dracula: A Love Story’ is well worth the watch and Caleb Landry Jones delivers a good performance as Vladimir aka Count Dracula.

Would I watch it again? Even though I prefer ‘Dracula’, I think I would like to see this film again some time in the future.