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Love At First Bite
Love At First Bite theatrical poster
Directed by	Stan Dragoti
Produced by	Joel Freeman
Written by	Robert Kaufman
Starring	George Hamilton Susan St. James Richard Benjamin Arte Johnson Dick Shawn
Music by	Charles Bernstein
Cinematography	Edward Rosson
Editing by	Mort Fallick Allan Jacobs
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date(s)	13 April 1979
Running time	94 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Love At First Bite is a 1979 comedy horror movie directed by Stan Dragoti and written by Robert Kaufman, using characters originally created by Bram Stoker. It stars George Hamilton, Susan Saint James, Richard Benjamin and Arte Johnson.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Main Cast 3 Trivia 4 Sequel 5 External links

The infamous vampire Count Dracula is expelled from his castle by the Communist government of Romania, which plans to convert the structure into an athletics training facility. The world-weary Count travels to New York City with his bug-eating assistant 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, he also proceeds to suffer the general ego-crushing that comes from modern life in the Big Apple as he romantically pursues flaky fashion model Cindy Soundheim, whom he has long believed to be the current reincarnation of his true love. Dracula is ineptly pursued in turn by Soundheim's psychiatrist and long-suffering quasi-boyfriend Jeffery Rosenberg, who is the grandson of Dracula's old nemesis Abraham Van Helsing. (Rosenberg changed his name to something Jewish "for professional reasons", to the point of wearing a Star of David, which proves to be ineffective at driving off vampires.) Rosenberg frequently - and publicly - tries to get rid of Dracula with everything he can think of, including silver bullets and alerting the police (represented here by NYPD Lieutenant Fergusson), but eventually he is locked up as a maniac. As mysterious cases of blood-bank robberies and vampiric attacks begin to spread, Fergusson starts to believe Rosenberg and gets him out.

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 Fergusson. On the tarmac, Cindy pays off her (enormous) bill to Rosenburg and willingly becomes Dracula's vampire bride. As bats, they fly off to Rio de Janeiro together, leaving Dracula's cape with Rosenberg. Fergusson hopes that the cape will help him on his wedding day, and both of them depart the runway arm in arm.

• 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 Renfield

Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford, the stars of the TV show The Jeffersons, both make cameo appearances in the film.

In one of the great ironies of film, Dracula, who, as a vampire, cannot appear in sunlight and has very pale skin, is played by George Hamilton, famed for his perpetual deep suntan.

Various serious attempts have been mounted at making a sequel to the film, but none have yet succeeded.

• Love At First Bite at the Internet Movie Database
• Rotten Tomatoes listing
• New York Times listing

Characters of Dracula
Count Dracula | Jonathan Harker | Mina Harker | Abraham Van Helsing | Lucy Westenra | Arthur Holmwood | Dr. John Seward | Quincey Morris | Renfield | Brides
Film Adaptations of Dracula (&)=parody
Nosferatu (1922) | Dracula (1931) | Dracula (1931 Spanish Version) | Dracula (1958) | Dracula (1968) | Count Dracula (1969) | Dracula (1973) | Count Dracula (1977) | Dracula (1979) | Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) | Lust at First Bite (1979) (&)| Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) | Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) (&) | Dracula (2002) | Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002) | Lust For Dracula (2004) (&) | Dracula (2006)
Other films featuring Dracula
Dracula's Daughter (1936) | Son of Dracula (1943) | House of Frankenstein (1944) | House of Dracula (1945) | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) | The Brides of Dracula (1960) | Dracula: Prince of Darkness(1966) | Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) | Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) | Scars of Dracula (1970) | Dracula AD 1972 (1972) | The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) | Love at First Bite (1979) | Dracula 2000 (2000) | Blade: Trinity (2004) | Van Helsing (2004) | Castlevania (TBA)