Dracula (2025)

Luc Besson’s Dracula is Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version with a French passport, right down to the lost wife named Elisabeta, the prince who turns his back on God and the fiancée who might be her reborn. Besson pitched it as a romance, and it is one, which means the horror mostly takes the night off. The tone lurches from tragic romance to gargoyle henchmen to a magic perfume Dracula cooks up to help with his centuries-long search. But Caleb Landry Jones is haunting, a mournful, strange prince who seems to feel every one of his four hundred years, and Danny Elfman’s score, built around the tune from an old music box, carries half the movie. Paris in 1889, decked out for the centennial of the French Revolution, looks fantastic. Critics gave it 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 5.0 because Jones and the music are worth it and the story is a cover song. $210.17 says the next music box you hear makes you glance over your shoulder for a pale guy in a cape.

What works: Caleb Landry Jones gives a haunting, sorrowful Dracula, and Danny Elfman’s lush score and the gothic visuals are gorgeous.

What doesn’t: The story leans so heavily on Coppola’s 1992 film that it feels borrowed, and the tone swings awkwardly between romance, horror and comedy.

Who it’s for: Gothic romance fans who want a lovesick vampire, big costumes and a sweeping score more than actual scares.