Love at First Bite

4/27/19791h 36m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Your favorite pain in the neck is about to bite your funny bone! ~

Overview:

Dracula and Renfield relocate to '70s era New York in search of Cindy Sondheim, the reincarnation of Dracula's one true love, Mina Harker. "Trouble adjusting" is a wild understatement for the Count as he battles Cindy's psychiatrist, Jeffrey Rosenberg, a descendant of Van Helsing, who may be in love with Cindy too.

Director:

Stan Dragoti

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$43,885,000.00

Key words:

new york city
vampire
coffin
romcom
spoof
disco
dracula

Cast

George Hamilton

~ as ~

Count Vladimir Dracula

Susan Saint James

~ as ~

Cindy Sondheim

Richard Benjamin

~ as ~

Dr. Jeffery Rosenberg / Van Helsing

Dick Shawn

~ as ~

Lieutenant Ferguson NYPD

Arte Johnson

~ as ~

Mr. Renfield

Sherman Hemsley

~ as ~

Reverend Mike

Isabel Sanford

~ as ~

Judge R. Thomas

Barry Gordon

~ as ~

Flashlight Vendor

Ronnie Schell

~ as ~

Guy in Elevator

Stanley Brock

~ as ~

Erwin Newman (Cab Driver)

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

Wuchak
Written 4 year(s) ago
6
Dracula-in-the-modern-day parody with George Hamilton

The Communist regime in Romania forces Dracula from his castle (George Hamilton), so he and Renfield (Arte Johnson) fly to New York City to meet a model who has caught the Count’s eye (Susan Saint James). Richard Benjamin plays her therapist and Dick Shawn an officer that tries to help solve the vampire happenings.

“Love at First Bite” (1979) spoofs Dracula flicks and was AIP’s most successful film up to that point (an honor that would only last three months, after which “The Amityville Horror” took the crown). It surged Hamilton’s career and remains his most profitable movie.

If you like other classic monster satires, such as “The Vampire Happening” (1971) and “Young Frankenstein” (1974), you should appreciate this one. It puts Dracula in the modern day Big City and milks it for fun. While it’s rarely laugh-out-loud funny, it’s consistently amusing (or eye-rolling) in a quiet smirks kind of way. There are several cameos of celebs that were popular at the time.

Although it has been accused of being “racist,” it pokes fun of people across the board, whatever their skin color or socioeconomic status. For instance, the beginning makes fun of Romanian Communists followed by superstitious rural villagers (all white people).

The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Manhattan and The Langham Apartments, Los Angeles.

GRADE: B-