Movie · 2025 · Horror, Fantasy, Romance · 2h 10m · R · French
Curator score: 2.0/10 (219.1K ratings)
He renounced his faith to become immortal. Passion, anger, vengeance, and hatred will be unleashed into the modern world.
Overview
In late 15th-century Eastern Europe, Prince Vlad II’s bride is brutally murdered. As a result, he renounces God and damns Heaven itself. Cursed with eternal life, Vlad is reborn as Dracula, an immortal warlord who defies fate in a blood-soaked crusade to wrench his lost love back from death.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.0/10
IMDb: 6.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.13/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
Metacritic: 44
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Luc Besson
Production
EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Production, SND, Kinology, Actarus Productions, Luc Besson Production
Cast
Caleb Landry Jones, Zoë Bleu Sidel, Christoph Waltz, Matilda De Angelis, Ewens Abid, Guillaume de Tonquédec, David Shields, Bertrand-Xavier Corbi, Raphael Luce, Liviu Bora, Anne Kessler, Romain Levi, Jassem Mougari, Thalia Besson, Haymon Maria Buttinger, Ivan Franěk, Karim Rakrouki, Arben Bajraktaraj, Nicola Puleo, Aaron Guillemette
Curator Review
Verdict
A glossy, melodramatic Dracula riff that leans hard into gothic romance and operatic obsession. The premise has clear appeal for viewers who want blood, longing, and tragic devotion, but the execution seems uneven and more divisive than essential.
Best for
gothic horror fans
romantic tragedy seekers
viewers who enjoy lush, pulpy fantasy
audiences open to campy or heightened genre filmmaking
Skip if
you want a faithful or definitive Dracula adaptation
you prefer restrained horror over grand melodrama
you are sensitive to filmmaker controversy
you want a tightly written, tonally consistent film
Overview
Luc Besson’s Dracula appears to trade in atmosphere, yearning, and excess rather than dread alone. The setup is classic gothic romanticism: a ruined prince, a murdered bride, a curse, and a centuries-spanning obsession that turns grief into violence. That gives the film a strong emotional hook, even if the reception suggests the tone may wobble between sincere tragedy and unintended silliness.
Worth noting
The Letterboxd reaction points to a movie people are more likely to describe as a vibe than as a rigorously satisfying horror film. Some viewers clearly responded to the devotion-and-doom angle, while others found the execution too broad, too glossy, or too close to parody. That split usually means the film has memorable imagery and a strong concept, but not enough control to fully land every beat.
Bottom line
For the right audience, this is the kind of overripe, blood-red gothic romance that can be fun precisely because it is so committed to its own excess. For everyone else, it may feel like a stylish but uneven retelling that never quite becomes the great tragic monster movie it wants to be.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Valouu (0.5★) · 9188 likes
Before I share my review of the movie, I want to remind those who may not know yet...
⚠️ Luc Besson, accused by 9 women of sexual assault and rape. A director who married a 15yo minor when he was 32, she became pregnant one year later. A director who wrote sexually suggestive scenes involving a 12yo child (with the character played by Natalie Portman in "Léon: The Professional", who was also 12 at the time of filming). Fortunately, we… more
Noel_dasilva (1.5★) · 5069 likes
Bro really saw Nosferatu and said ”whats really missing here is for Dracula to sound more like Gru and for him to have little rocky minions”
ruth ୨ৎ · 4632 likes
if he won’t wait 400 years to find you again in your reincarnated form does he really love you?
zizathefrog (2.5★) · 4408 likes
The longest perfume advertisement I have ever seen
millie (3★) · 3661 likes
Count Dracula your wife's face card was lethal so i get it dude