The Vampire Horror Comedy Box Office Hit You Can’t Watch At All
Vampires have been a cornerstone of horror cinema since the silent film era. These terrifying bloodsuckers draw from folklore around the world and offer plenty of variety in how they look, feed, and can be killed. Rarely is there a comedic approach to this mythical monster, though the 1979 film Love at First Bite tried well at it.
Love at First Bite
Love at First Bite is a comedic rendition of Count Dracula (George Hamilton) in the late 1970s. The Communist government in Romania forced the creature of the night to flee, and he arrived in the Big Apple with his henchman Renfeld (Arte Johnson).
Dracula is determined to fit into his new surroundings, though his attempts are often thwarted by the most comedic circumstances.
Dracula Eyes A Fashion Model
Dracula’s coffin is sent to a black church in Harlem by mistake, forcing him to take refuge in a Manhattan hotel.
He’s both thrilled and appalled at life in New York, exceedingly happy about the existence of blood banks but frustrated by how quickly his romantic prowess is rejected by modern women.
Love at First Bite sees Dracula eye fashion model Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James), who he believes is his beloved Mina Harker reincarnated.
It Gets Complicated
Complicating his pursuit of Cindy is her boyfriend, Dr. Jeffrey Rosenberg (Richard Benjamin), who is able to determine that Dracula is a vampire. The grandson of the infamous Van Helsing, he relentlessly pursues Dracula so that he might rid the world of his evil, as well as the competition for Cindy’s affections.
Hilarity Ensues
Love at First Bite has the Van Helsing family members attempt to kill Dracula on numerous occasions, only to be comedically thwarted time and again.
After being committed to a mental hospital for what authorities consider erratic and insane behavior after one foiled assassination plot, Dr. Rosenberg is able to finally convince a police detective that Dracula is indeed a vampire.
After being sprung from the asylum, Dr. Rosenberg and Lt. Ferguson races to stop the Count from securing Cindy’s hand in marriage.
Vampire Film Tropes
Love at First Bite succeeds in giving audiences a film that picks apart many of the vampire film tropes and reduces them to laughable moments.
The movie has a great cast of faces familiar to 70s TV and film watchers, including memorable laughs from Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, and Barry Gordon. It’s not high art by any means, but serves as a break from the blood and fear that most vampire movies are drenched in.
Watching Love At First Bite
REVIEW SCORE
Sadly, Love at First Bite isn’t available to stream on any streaming platform and isn’t available to rent On Demand.
Its box office successes ($44 million in receipts over a $3 million budget) led to a successful set of showings on prime-time network television in the early 1980s and released on VHS and DVD. A Blu-ray version was released in 2015 and is fairly easy and inexpensive to get.
Love at First Bite sinks its fangs into 3.0/5.0-stars, notably for its quirky sense of humor, great comedic timing from the actors, and its ability to not take itself so seriously.
