Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire

Plot synopsis:
Divorced, ex-rockabilly singer Lynette Hansen [Caroline Rhea] comes home from work to
find her 15-year old daughter Chelsea [Laura Vandervoot] on the phone with her boyfriend,
instead of doing her homework. Thirteen-year old Adam [Matthew O'Leary] is entranced in "The
Return of Count Krelski," and 8-year-old Taylor [Myles Jeffrey] is hiding behind the
couch. Ah, the joys of being a single Mom.As luck would have it, Adam's friend Duffy gets backstage passes to
the Headless Horsemen concert at Saturday night's Harvest Festival, the
very weekend that Adam is grounded for not writing his history essay and
trying to pass off some story from the Weekly Secret tabloid about vampire
hunter Malachi Van Helsing. To make matters worse, Chelsea (who had a hot
date on Saturday night) is also grounded for smarting off. What to do? The
solution is obvious--get Mom a date for Saturday night. Where to find a
date for Mom with only one day to go? Again, the answer is simple. Match
her up with someone from the Personals column in the Weekly Secret. This
sounds like a good one: Continental gentleman, handsome, debonair, suave.
Enjoys long strolls beneath the full moon. Loves adventure, travel, wild animals,
and women who long for romantic nights that will never end. Hates Italian food and turtlenecks. Wolfsbane@netherlink.pro.Adam sends Wolfsbane an email asking him to meet Mom at the
Foodmaster at 8 pm. Now to get Mom there. Easy. Remind her how the family
used to have chocolate chip pancakes together every Saturday morning. Make
her feel guilty enough to go to the store for chocolate chips.
OK. Got her to the store. Now to find Wolfsbane. No, it's not the guy
buying spaghetti. No, it's not the guy buying the cake that says, "Happy
Anniversary." Maybe it's the guy in the long overcoat with the pulled down
hat who appears to be looking for someone? He certainly looks like a
Wolfsbane. Before Chelsea and Adam can link up with Wolfsbane, however,
Lynette bumps carts with someone else--Dr Dimitri Dentatos [Charles Shaughnessy] from Romania.
They get to talking and, not long after that, Mom's got a date with a
vampire...but the only one who knows it is Taylor, because he saw Dimitri
turn into a bat after leaving the store.It's Saturday night. Dimitri has arrived, and Adam has invited him
in. Dimitri has a nice evening planned. First, dinner at Renfield's, then
dancing, and finally a romantic carriage ride in the park.
Meanwhile, Taylor is trying to convince Adam that Dimitri is a
vampire, but Adam only knows about vampires in the movies. If it's a real
vampire, you have to call someone like Malachi Van Helsing, so Taylor
does. Unfortunately, Van Helsing isn't answering his phone, so Taylor
pedals over to Renfield's to bring Mom home. Since that would spoil Adam
and Chelsea's plans, they go after Taylor. Taylor refuses to go home
without telling Mom that Dimitri is a vampire, so Dimitri performs the
Transylvania spoon test to assure Taylor that he is not. On the way out of
the restaurant, however, Adam happens to glance in a mirror and realizes
that Dimitri casts no reflection. He really IS a vampire.
What to do now? First, take Taylor home to the babysitter. Then
follow Mom. She and Dimitri have left the restaurant and gone for a walk.
Since dancing was next on Dimitri's list, Lynette takes him into a
rockabilly place where she used to sing. Next, they go to the Harvest
Festival, all the while it is apparent that Dimitri hates every dance,
every song, every ride, and wants only to get Lynette alone. Fortunately,
Adam and Chelsea are never far behind, until Dimitri catches Adam and
warns him to follow no more or die.Lynette has come to the conclusion that she and Dimitri aren't right
for each other, so Dimitri mesmerizes her, and they leave the festival
together. Chelsea and Adam figure that Dimitri is taking Mom to his lair,
which is the old Mather house out by the lake, because he told them
earlier that he was renovating that place. Adam and Chelsea on the way!Meanwhile, Van Helsing [Robert Carradine] hasn't been able to get through to the Hansen
residence because the babysitter has been tying up the phone, so he goes
over to Taylor's house. Taylor remembers Van Helsing as the guy in the long
overcoat with the pulled down hat from Foodmaster, and Taylor offers to
come along to help look for his Mom. When Van Helsing refuses ("I work alone"),
Taylor hides in the back seat of his car until they're well on the
way...but to where? Well, they don't know where Dimitri and Mom are going,
but they do know where they'll end up...at Dimitri's house, probably some
big old mansion somewhere out by the lake, of course. All the old mansions
are out there. Now Taylor and Van Helsing are on the way.Chelsea and Adam get there first and haul Dimitri's coffin down to
the lake. When Dimitri arrives, he discovers his coffin floating on the
water with Adam sitting on top. Adam tries to make a deal--Mom for the
coffin--but Dimitri grabs Chelsea and changes the deal--the coffin for
Chelsea. Adam has no choice but to return the coffin.
Taylor and Van Helsing finally find the house. Dimitri manages to knock out
Van Helsing. Then he turns on Chelsea and Adam, who start screaming for their Mom.
Lynette comes out of the trance (Love is stronger than any vampire
trance), pushes Dimitri into his coffin, and Van Helsing rivets it shut with silver
nails. Dimitri will be shipped to the South Pole for the winter and then
to Finland for the summer. And tomorrow morning, Van Helsing will join the
Hansens for chocolate chip pancakes. [Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

Tags: horror

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