Dracula’s coffin is going to Jamaica and there’s nothing left to do but fly as a bat to escape.Ĭindy realizes that she must finally choose what she wants in this world, something she’s never truly done. They dash to the airport with Rosenberg and the Lieutenant hot on their heels, but they miss their plane. Eventually, after trying to set fire to the Count’s coffin and then trying to shoot him with silver bullets (that’s for werewolves not vampires), Rosenberg is committed, but joins forces with the police who finally start believing him.ĭracula has won Cindy, who decides she’ll go with him after a daring rescue of Cindy from an elevator she’s stuck in during a black out. Meeting Vladimir, he and Jeffrey have a “who’s got the biggest hypnotic powers” showdown, causing Cindy to leave disgusted with both of them. The next morning Cindy is telling her ex-boyfriend and current therapist Jeffrey about the experience. at least in my opinion) and he spends the night with her, giving her the first bite of three that will turn her into a vampire. The Lord of the Undead proceeds to sweep her off her feet (literally, in one of the best numbers EVER. But then he sees Cindy at a local disco where she is every night. Dracula’s not really loving modern New York and it doesn’t seem to love him. Taking a suite at the Plaza Hotel (after a mix up of coffins which causes Dracula to have to walk through Harlem and meet some of the locals) they discover where Cindy will be. Because seriously, what is there in Transylvania besides Dracula? So they fly to New York where Dracula has decided to pursue his dream of wooing Cindy. Even in Transylvania, the modern age doesn’t need or fear a vampire.ĭracula and Renfield pack up and leave, but not before telling the local mob that Transylvania will miss him once he’s gone. They are taking the castle and Dracula is basically being evicted. A knock on the door heralds the arrival of the government. He sees within her the soul of many a previous lost love, including Mina Harker. The film begins in Transylvania, with Dracula, lonely and still in his castle, pining away for Cindy Sondheim as he looks through his fashion magazines. The lovely Susan Saint James, known for her work on TV as in MCMILLAN & WIFE, would be Dracula’s love interest, the very new world Cindy Sondheim. Arte Johnson, a classic comedian, would be Renfield. Richard Benjamin who had made a mark in sci-fi with the movie WESTWORLD and the TV series Quark would play the Count’s nemesis Jeffrey Rosenberg (who was secretly a Van Helsing). This is due to William Tuttle who actually worked on Bela Lugosi in the 1935 classic MARK OF THE VAMPIRE and who worked on some big films over his storied career, including the 1974 horror comedy classic Young Frankenstein (which helped set the path for LOVE AT FIRST BITE to be made.) But the make-up work on Hamilton is so good you can’t tell how much he loves the sun. George Hamilton, ironically the man known for his tan, is Count Dracula. Throughout the movie, stars like Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, and even Michael Pataki, who played Dracula in DRACULA’S DOG and another bloodsucker in GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE. It starred some familiar faces at the time and is filled with cameos. LOVE AT FIRST BITE was written by Robert Kaufman, a man known for goofy comedies on the big screen as well as on television, having written for THE BOB NEWHART SHOW. While they poked fun at Lugosi’s Count, it wasn’t with a very sharp stake…but with a sharp wit and a slew of modern problems. LOVE AT FIRST BITE gloried in the disco days of the late 70’s while paying homage to the classic films that starred Bela Lugosi as the classic version of Dracula. Within this batch of cinematic blood suckers was yet another version of the Lord of the Undead, but this time Dracula was going modern. The Werner Herzog remake of the classic NOSFERATU, Frank Langella’s version of DRACULA, and the creepfest from Stephen King, SALEM’S LOT, were just some of the bats flying around the belfry of many horror fans. 1979 saw a boom in vampire films being released.
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