Dracula (2025)

"A Unique Interpretation"

A quite bizarre melding of elements from Francis Ford Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (which this film leans on heavily), Tom Tykwer's PERFUME, and the MINIONS movie, Luc Besson's singular take on the most famous vampire tale of all is getting a digital release from Signature Entertainment, with a Blu-ray release to follow.

Besson's new film keeps the Coppola prologue, suggesting that Count Dracula (here played by Caleb Landry Jones) began life as Prince Vladimir of Wallachia, a normal human being who at 'God's request' defeated the Turks only for his beloved wife Elisabeta (Zoe Bleu) to end up dead. Vlad curses God and vampirism happens.

Then the film fast forwards 400 years, relocating events to Paris and giving us possibly the best and most interesting part of the film. A vampire-hunting priest who is never named but is played by Christoph Waltz is called to a Paris asylum to help with the case of Maria (a very vigorous Matilda De Angelis) who is Obviously a Vampire. Meanwhile in Transylvania the worst Jonathan Harker ever ends up in Dracula's castle where the Count's ability to move food without touching it earns the 400 year old vampire a 'Nice!' before Harker continues with everyday chit chat.

After that we get a lengthy backstory for the Count. The irresistibility to his bite turns out to be because of a perfume he has developed, one the remarkable effects of which are demonstrated in a number of elaborate scenes that must have used up a lot of the costume (and dance) budget, before he finally gets to Paris and Mina Murray (Bleu once more), the inevitable runaround, and a climax that involves a big gun battle with soldiers and cannons.

Is Luc Besson's DRACULA any good? Or rather, is any of Luc Besson's DRACULA any good? Well, there's a bit of visual spectacle, a show stopping decapitation near the end that's a lot of fun, and the absence of Van Helsing (replaced by Waltz's priest) is an interesting touch. Purists will likely get a headache very quickly at the liberties that have been taken with the novel, while probably everyone will be scratching their heads at why Dracula has an unexplained army of comedy gargoyle minions. Those who stick with it can play spot the filmic 'influences' because aside from the three above there are plenty more, oh yes indeed. Likely to become no-one's favourite version of the story, Luc Besson's DRACULA is still probably worth watching once, if only out of sheer curiosity value. Here's a trailer:

Luc Besson's DRACULA aka DRACULA: A LOVE TALE is out on Digital from Signature Entertainment on Monday 1st December 2025, with a Blu-ray release to follow on Monday 22nd December 2025

Dogman (2024)

"Luc Besson's JOKER - With Dogs...(Sort Of)"

Writer-directot Luc Besson's latest feature gets a Blu-ray and digital release from Altitude Films.

Doug (Caleb Landry Jones) is stopped by the police after the abandoned school he calls home is found full of dead bodies. The van he is driving also happens to be full of very much living dogs, who he assures the police won't hurt them as long as the dogs don't feel Doug is under threat.

Confined to a police cell he is interviewed by psychologist Evelyn (Jojo T Gibbs). In flashback we see the story of his awful upbringing by his father and brother who kept fighting dogs and who imprisoned him in the dogs' cage. Befriended by the animals who became his loyal companions, the number of dogs Doug looked after only increased when he starting working for the local pound. Now he has a veritable canine army who are happy to do his bidding.

DOGMAN feels like JOKER by way of WILLARD, only with dogs instead of rats. It also feels like a film with a few too many ideas to form a satisfactory story. Doug is more or less paralysed from the waist down from a gunshot injury by his father, he sings at a nightclub in drag, and he has trained his dogs to steal from rich people's houses. 

The result is a film that feels like a grungy super-villain origin story, but one that bumps along in too many fits and starts to satisfy the comic-book crowd. That said Jones is excellent in another quirky role, as are all the dogs, and any film directed by Luc Besson is worth checking out. DOGMAN is a far cry from his more recent glossy SF efforts like LUCY or VALERIAN and while it's nowhere near as good as NIKITA or LEON if you've ever been a fan of the director it's definitely worth checking out. Here's the trailer:

Luc Besson's DOGMAN is out on Blu-ray and Digital from Altitude Films on Monday 11th March 2024