Love at First Bite

Plot synopsis:
The infamous vampire Count Dracula is expelled from his castle by the Communist government of Romania, which plans to convert the structure into a training facility for gymnasts (the head trainer declares that it will include Nadia Comăneci). The world-weary Count travels to New York City with his bug-eating manservant, Renfield, and establishes himself in a hotel, but only after a mix-up at the airport causes his coffin to be accidentally sent to be the centerpiece in a funeral at a black church in Harlem. While Dracula learns that America contains such wonders as blood banks and discotheques, he also proceeds to suffer the general ego-crushing that comes from life in the Big Apple in the late 1970s as he romantically pursues flaky fashion model Cindy Sondheim, whom he has admired from afar and believes to be the current reincarnation of his true love (an earlier being named Mina Harker).
Dracula is ineptly pursued in turn by Sondheim's psychiatrist and quasi-boyfriend Jeffrey Rosenberg. Jeffrey is the grandson of Dracula's old nemesis Fritz (sic) van Helsing but changed his name to Rosenberg "for professional reasons". Rosenberg's numerous methods to combat Dracula - mirrors, garlic, a Star of David (which he uses instead of the cross), and hypnosis - are easily averted by the Count. Rosenberg also tries burning Dracula's coffin with the vampire still inside, but is arrested by hotel security. Subsequently he tries to shoot him with three silver bullets, but Dracula remains unscathed, patiently explaining that this works only on werewolves. Rosenberg's increasingly erratic actions eventually cause him to be locked up as a lunatic, but as mysterious cases of blood-bank robberies and vampiric attacks begin to spread, NYPD Lieutenant Ferguson starts to believe the psychiatrist's claims and gets him released.
In the end, as a major blackout hits the city, Dracula flees via taxi cab back to the airport with Cindy, pursued by Rosenberg and Ferguson. The coffin is accidentally sent to Jamaica instead of London and the couple miss their plane. On the runway, Cindy finally agrees to become Dracula's vampire bride. Rosenberg attempts to stake Dracula, but as he moves in for the kill, the two fly off as bats together. A check drops down by which Cindy pays off her (enormous) psychiatry bill to Rosenberg, to which he remarks: "She has become a responsible person ... or whatever." Rosenberg keeps Dracula's cape - the only thing his stake had hit - which Ferguson borrows, hoping (since the cape makes the wearer look stylish) it will help him on his wedding anniversary. The last scene shows Dracula and Cindy, transformed into bats, on their way to Jamaica.

Tags: romantic

Review:
The writer and George Hamilton had obviously studied the Bela Lugosi version carefully, and there are many references to famous lines, e.g., "I never drink...wine." Reviewers who knock this movie don't know the source material very well.
Despite the '70s sleaze and feel to it, this is still a classic comedy with many laugh-out-loud scenes, similar to the Dracula spoof Mel Brooks put out in the '90s (Dracula: Dead And Loving It).
Brooks must have been inspired watching this film.Susan St. James is okay in the female lead role here but almost all the laughs are produced by three guys: George Hamilton IV, Arte Johnson and Richard Benjamin.
He excels with his deadpan humor and restrained style as the famous "Count Dracula." Johnson, as "Renfield," still makes me laugh with his stupid laugh in here and Benjamin added a lot of spark to the film the moment he entered, playing the ultra-liberal psychiatrist who knows who Dracula right off and tries in vain to stop him.Speaking of "liberal," this film is like something discovered out of a time capsule, if you want to see the most Liberal period in American history - the '60s and '70s - with the too-casual attitude toward sex, drugs and anything of moral value.
St. James, as model "Cindy Sonheim," gives us Exhibit A of that, with Benjamin close behind.Since all four of the major characters in here provide tons of entertainment in this hour-and-a-half, this movie always is fun to watch, no matter what era..
Say what you would like about Apocolypse Now, the Godfather, the Terminator films, the Alien series, Jaws, Rocky, Casablanca, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, or even (gulp) the Star Wars Trilogy, but Love at First Bite is for me the all time greatest movie ever.
George Hamilton is bloody good as a comedic Count Dracula who goes to New York City to find his true love, fashion model Susan Saint James.
Richard Benjamin plays James' shrink who just happens to be related to the great vampire killer Dr. Van Helsing, and goes out of his way to try to stop her from seeing Count Dracula.
These three actors generate laughs, but the funniest scenes are provided by Arte Johnson as Count Dracula's assistant Renfield.
"Love at First Bite" isn't the best comedy ever made, but if you want to watch some good dumb fun, this is it.*** (out of four).
Hamilton as suave and out-of-the-20th-century-loop Count Vladimir Dracula, Susan St James in what was inarguably her best screen role as NY super model Cindy Sondheim, and ever-funny Richard Benjamin as Dr Jeffrey Rosenberg..a distant relation of Dr Van Helsing no less!Both are in love with Cindy who is torn every which way emotionally, even allowing for her understandable concern as to the restrictive life of a bat in general.
A great comedic version of the story, with a tanned vampire Hamilton looking for his lost love to give her the bite.
Better than average horror romance/comedy with the charming Hamilton perfectly cast as the comedic Dracula.Not too horrific really but more so on the romantic side with a cute love story to it.The movie could have had better cinematography and editing and also,some scenes were low quality particularly the one where Dracula's bug eating assistant shows his lunch box to the modeling agent.Still the movie moves along well and the actors charm the audience well enough to make this movie a good one.Only for fans of this genre or big fans of the lead actors......
If you get the humor in horror and in Dracula then you will get this belly-busting comedy movie.I saw this movie years ago as an 8 or 9 year old kid and it was "Love At First Watch" .
To this very day, I will still laugh when I see this movie.I have admit that George Hamilton makes a good-looking Dracula and could have easily taken a serious Dracula role - but I'm glad he did this particular film.If you like is film (Love at First Bite) then you are also sure to love Leslie Nelson in "Dracula: Dead and Loving It".
George Hamilton in his best film role ever as the nefarious Count Dracula is a fond and loving tribute of the Univeral Films 1931 feature.
The up-dating of the story to New York city is a real laugh riot as Hamilton, always playing for the laughs, takes himself seriously, and delivers each line as a comedy gem.
Arte Johnson has completely captured the character of Renfield, with the laugh and movements of Dwight Frye and it was incredible that the make-up artist for the original "Dracula" was used for this film 48 years later.
Clever romantic comedy with the always charming Hamilton as a more hoaky and fun Count Dracula.
Forced out of his Transylvanian castle by government officials, Count Vladimir Dracula and his bug-eating man-servant, Renfield, pull up stakes and land in New York City, where the bloodsucker begins his search for the fashion model he believes is his soulmate.
Whether seducing flaky sexpot Susan Saint James with some fancy moves on the dance-floor, matching wits with Richard Benjamin as a nutty psychiatrist (and Van Helsing relative!) or robbing a blood bank with Arte Johnson's Renfield in tow, Hamilton never gets pushy with his Dracula incarnation; he's working in a surprising, charming lower key and doesn't resort to hamming for laughs.
You might even say it is emblematic of urban 70's life.The film opens with Count Dracula (George Hamilton) being kicked out of his ancestral home of 712 years in Transylvania because, at the time, Romania was still behind the iron curtain and the central committee plans to take over the castle and make it an Olympic training center.
The underlying message being that after 30 years of Communist rule, the Bolsheviks are good at taking things away from people but haven't managed to improve their lives at all in the process.At any rate, Dracula plans to travel to New York City and find the girl of his dreams, cynical model Cindy Sondheim (Susan St. James).
In the process Dracula's world runs smack into urban bloodless late 20th century New York City at the height of the disco and free love era, and the results are hilarious.
Finally, he gets to meet Cindy at the disco she hangs out at every night - and though you would think she would scare off most guys - dirty apartment (think "The Dirty Girl" episode of Friends), cynical attitude towards men, her long blonde hair is actually a wig, still the count pursues.In a parallel plot, Cindy's analyst, Dr. Jeffery Rosenberg (Richard Benjamin) is actually doing something that will get your physician's license revoked in most places - he's been sleeping with his patient for nine years and is ambivalent towards any commitment towards her.
Susan Saint James is good too, but with three excellent over-the-top performances by Hamilton, Johnson, and Benjamin, she is left in the dust and is kind of boring in comparison to the other much-animated actors.
It is a campy spoof of Dracula movies, and George Hamilton is fabulous as Count Dracula.
Before viewing this Dracula spoof, "Love at First Bite," I watched two other 1979 film adaptations of Bram Stoker's novel: Universal's update and Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu" remake.
And George Hamilton's tanned burlesque on the suave vamp almost makes it worth having watched the travesty with Frank Langella in the role.Another thing I like about this parody is its twist on the "invasion" genre, of which Stoker's novel was part of.
Spook but highly enjoyable black comedy,indeed a little alike Roman Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers,at least Arte Johnson as Renfield,in New York disco era this is my guilty pleasure movie neither,good humor,forbidden romance,and the Master the Vampire and the right hand Renfield has a amazing chemistry of priceless funny scenes,Susan Saint James is great shape of glorious days,by the way have a Van Helsing's jewish descendent.....yes sir Jewish!!!Resume:First watch: 1985 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-VHS-DVD / Rating: 7.
In fact the only person who falls foul is the uninteresting Susan Saint James, whose boring character sits at odds with the rest of the film making you wonder why Dracula would go to all of the trouble bothering with her.George Hamilton effortlessly slips into the role of the suave, sophisticated Count with his tongue-in-cheek portrayal, and he isn't afraid to gently mock the character's idiosyncrasies while doing it either.
Easily acting opposite him is an over-the-top Richard Benjamin, playing a slightly mad and frenetic descendant of Van Helsing, whose various encounters and battles with Dracula prove to be the highlights of the movie.
Now I know why Granddad married you!" A delightful film for all vampire film lovers to watch, and now that it's out on DVD, to purchase.But Love at fist bite is still the best spoof of the Vampire genre, I think much better than "Dracula - dead and loving it.".
I love how he kept getting the way you kill a vampire wrong to the point of shooting Hamilton's character with silver bullets in a restaurant and the last scene where he is putting on the cape thinking that is how the count attracted the ladies.
the basic premise is that Dracula ends up being evicted from his castle in Transylvania and decides to relocate to New York to be with his true love,even if she doesn't know it.the most amusing aspect of this movie is George Hamilton as the count.George Hamilton is a perpetually tanned person and in the movie,he is also tanned.picture Count Dracula,who is supposed to be deathly pale with a dark tan.that's a pretty funny picture.then,we have the count in New York who is like a fish out of water.there are some some very funny lines in this movie,mainly owing to the count not being familiar with the language and customs of a modern city.Susan Saint James plays the love interest Cindy Sondheim and is quite funny in her role.the character of Renfield is also very funny,but it is Richard Benjamin as the count's rival for Cindy's affections and adversary who steals the show with his scenes.the humour in this movie is not the tears streaming down your face kind.it's more droll and wry,but it works.the movie moves at good clip and maintains interest throughout.i especially liked how the actors manage to have a deadpan delivery for their silly lines.basically,i liked this movie quite a bit.it's certainly worth 90 minutes to 2 hours of time.i give "Love at First Bite" a 7/10.
Well, at 8, Love At First Bite was a little advanced for me, and my few recollections included the opening with Hamilton telling the 'Children of the Night' to "shut up" so he could play his piano, an annoying Richard Benjamin setting fire to Dracula's casket, and the disco scene.Somehow, these scenes have stayed with me for well over a quarter of a century.I rented it last night out of nostalgic curiosity, and I'm glad I did.
She had some formidable competition (or do I mean, support?) from the likes of Arte Johnson, Richard Benjamin, Dick Shawn, and George Hamilton in his hilarious incarnation as a latter-day Count Dracula.The production values looked pretty tacky on the big screen and it didn't look much better on the small screen when I caught it on a TV broadcast a few years back.
The witty dialogue, comic timing, and the notion of Count Dracula as an antiquated relic makes this movie work hilariously right up to the credits.We have had romanticized vampires before this, and I suppose it's no accident that this was released in the same year as Frank Langella's Byronically romantic DRACULA.
Count Vladimir Dracula (George Hamilton with a sleazy accent) is forced to leave his Transylvanian castle and ships for New York.
A pretty cheesy vampire spoof, starring George Hamilton and Susan Saint James.
It's some typical spoof stuff but what else did you expect from a movie titled "Love at First Bite", that tells you the story of Dracula, set in modern times.
Yes, the actors still make this a good watch, with a surprising George Hamilton playing the lead role.
Same goes for the supporting cast really, with actors such as Arte Johnson and Richard Benjamin playing some good and fun roles.It's a a fun but at the same time also messy and quite poorly told comedy.
A very hit or miss seductively light weight romantic comedy spoof about Dracula getting kicked out of Transylvania and heading to the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple (authentic New York filming locations used) to hopefully sink his fangs into a famous fashion model that he has fallen in love with.
Susan Saint James brings spirit to her part as Dracula's love interest and Richard Benjamin is quite fun in his neurotic role as her boyfriend / psychiatrist that happens to be a relation to Van Helsing.
It would have been great if the story had Dracula interacting with the everyday activities of New York's nightlife more (like the small sequence that has him up against some thugs and disco dancing), but the script concentrates more so on the sweeping love angle and that of Benjamin's character trying to stop James's dame falling under Dracula's spell.
Featuring a tan-less George Hamilton as Count Vladimir Dracula looking for a bride in 1970s New York, the movie is basically an excuse to be silly.
His bride to be in this case is Cindy Sondheim (Susan St. James), and Richard Benjamin is his usual funny self as Dr. Jeffrey Rosenberg trying to protect Cindy from the count.
Dracula's tanned, in New York, in the 70's, in the disco...after all he loves the night life, he likes to boogie!.
The first time we wonder what would life be like for Dracula if he came into the present world and to take on one of the toughest cities: New York City.
George Hamilton does a terrific job playing a tan Dracula and you can tell he had so much fun getting into the role.
Every character in this film is great and the actors looked like they had so much fun making Love at first Bite.
Love at first Bite flows very well and while dated, I promise there is no way you'll watch this movie without getting at least one good laugh.
*****Possible Spoilers*****This film still holds up after nearly 25 years (Plans for a sequel were announced recently).George Hamilton, in his best Lugosi accent, plays Dracula with humor and biting (pun intended) wit.
this movie was Excellent and so funny, George Hamilton was perfect for Dracula ..
With its cheesy dialogue, romance plot line and toned, tanned and accented 'George Hamilton' playing the sad vampire, 'Count Vladimir Dracula', this movie was a comedy success just waiting to happen.Vladimir is a Vampire with a heart.
And now, he is being evicted from his Transylvanian home and so has decided to move to New York to find his love, 'Cindy Sondheim', played by the beautiful 'Susan Saint James'.Cindy is a model (naturally) but surprisingly isn't as up herself as one would expect.
Dracula is the "good" this time, he's a sensitive heart, he loves Cindy, a model whose life is a complete chaos, and he's willing to do anything to have her.
George Hamilton, with that great characterized accent, and Susan Saint James are perfect for their roles, and they play in a very convincing way both comedy and romance in a kind of roles reversal mode.
Love at First Bite starts in Transylvania at Count Vladimir Dracula's (George Hamilton) castle.
So along with his very annoying servant Renfield (Arte Johnson) Dracula decides to head for New York to find a woman he has become convinced is the reincarnation of his lost love, a successful fashion model named Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James).
Love at First Bite is the sort of film that thinks Dracula drinking the blood of a drunk and then becoming drunk himself and singing & a woman being shown a mouse who then runs away screaming is funny.
George Hamilton has a way better tan than any Dracula ever, but that doesn't mean the people of Transylvania love him.
He battles Van Helsing's descendant Jeffrey Rosenberg (Richard Benjamin) who teams with a New York cop played by Dick Shawn.Isabel Sanford also shows up as a judge, as does Michael Pataki, which always makes me happy.Here's some interesting trivia: this movie featured the same makeup artist as the original Dracula, William Tuttle.
That makes sense, as does Arte Johnson basing his acting on Dwight Frye in the original film.George Hamilton bought the rights to this film and has been trying to get a sequel made that combines Twilight with Dracula and involves the son of the legendary vampire marrying the daughter of a televangelist.Director Stan Dragoti was busted for cocaine possession on the way to promote this movie at Cannes.
Comedy is notoriously difficult because it is so subjective, but at its heart 'Love at First Bite' is a well observed (even Hamilton sauntering down a street in downtown New York is reminiscent of Bela Lugosi's sojourn down the streets of Universal's 'London' from the 1931 classic), surprisingly well-played comedy, in which Count Dracula's long lost love is Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James), a famous fashion model.
George Hamilton turns in a surprisingly good performance as the undead aristocrat, and Susan Saint-James has her best role as Cindy Sondheim, a New York fashion model who just happens to be the reincarnation of Dracula's long-lost love.
All that aside, LOVE AT FIRST BITE - a cable TV staple - has lasted not just because it is very, very funny, but also because Susan Saint James and George Hamilton have a great chemistry between them and actually make their love story convincing!
In particular, Arte Johnson was a standout as the over-the-top freak, Renfield, Richard Benjamin's equally over-the-top retooling of Von Helsing and George Hamilton finally found his film niche as the sexy but somehow hip vampire.