Love at First Bite (1979)

Dracula has never been so funny and dashing to say nothing of being an awesome disco dancer as in this "delightful movie with a bang-up cast" (The New York Times) led by the epitome of suave George Hamilton and featuring first-rate performances from Susan Saint James Richard Benjamin Dick Shawn Arte Johnson Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford!Evicted from Transylvania Dracula (Hamilton) goes to New York to make Cindy (Saint James) a model with an old soul his eternal bride. To his delight she quickly falls for his necking style. But when her would-be boyfriend (Benjamin) a descendant of the vampire-killing Van Helsings meets his romantic rival he's determined to put a stake in the count's plans!System Requirements: Running Time 96 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 027616925626 Manufacturer No: 1008552 Product Description

Fangs for the Memories

George Hamilton is the last of the great Draculas. I didn't care for the Frank Langela remake, or the Klaus Kinsky remake of Nosferatu Eine Symphone des Grauens as Nosferatu Phantom der Nacht. It's gotten steadily worse with Gary Oldman and Mark Warren as Dracula and William DaFoe as Max Schreck (a very real actor from the Max Reinhardt troupe that produced Conrad Veidt and Paul Weggener. Schreck's wife played Hutter's nurse in the hospital scene.)

But back to Hamilton, he played a matinee era Dracula. He represented a dead period of romance, and the grand gesture in a jaded age. The now classic scene of Dracula dancing in a disco, technically it looked more like a tango, bringing it back to the era of the Deane/Balderston play and Lugosi movie, which was the 1920's through the early 30's. Jill St. John from certain angles reminded me of Greta Schröder in Nosferatu Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922).

Hamilton's Dracula always maintained his dignity even while in his underpants, and Renfield massaging him. When he seduces the Cindy Sondheim character in the disco, in a worldess scene, he looks cold and imperious and she just smiles. What would've been a shock ending in any other movie was Dracula rescuing the heroine from a world of quick anonymous sex, drugs, therapy and jealous-neurotic relationships. Dracula looks downright misty eyed when he says, "In a world without romance, I'd rather be dead."

Shades of the actor Hamilton could've been

I'd love to see Timothy Dalton in the part one day. August 19, 2008

A great movie - past tense...

This movie was hilarious when I first saw it and still has it's moments, but it's hopelessly dated. Maybe in another 10 years.
For the confirmed 70's, George Hamilton or disco fan. July 27, 2008

I know it's corny, but I like it.

George Hamilton, as Count Dracula in 1979 New York, in search of his re-born soul-mate who happens to be a supermodel just waiting for the right man to rescue her from all this carrier-woman stuff. Viewed by today's standards, parts of it are sexist, parts of it are racist, and parts of it are really dated. If you were to see this for the first time today, you probably wouldn't like it.
That said, I loved this movie when I was a kid in the 80's, and I still enjoy it now, mostly for the nostalgia. George Hamilton is his ever cool, debonair self, with solid one-liners, and Renfield (Arte Johnson) is a crack-up.
This would be a great campy double-feature with Zorro, The Gay Blade.
June 17, 2008

"No, I bit your mother, and your grandmother!"

You had Frank Langella, Bella Lagozi, Christopher Lee, Gary Oldman, and Leslie Neilsen previously playing Dracula. It was only natural and a matter of time to include the chip eating, always tan; George Hamilton to the mix (Leslie Neilson was the last though in Dracula, Dead and Loving It)). George Hamilton plays the Romanian Prince of Darkness in this comical take on the long history about vampires and the creatures of the night.

This classic certainly brings back the time of disco music and disco balls. George Hamilton in Romania apparently is evicted of his castle and comes to New York City. He's forced to live in a small apartment along with his sidekick, Renfield who was played by the comical Arte Johnson (very interesting!!). Looking for a bride, he stumbles upon Ms. Cindy Sondheim (Susan St. James). Persuing Count Dracula is Jeffrey (Richard Benjamin), who is Cindy's boyfriend as well as psychologist and a relative of the Van Helsing clan.

All this leads up to funny times during the latter half of the 1970's. Yikes it's almost 30 years old. Better dust off the record player and those platform shoes. Don't forget the bell bottoms. In a brief appearance, Sherman Helmsey is hillarious while completing a funeral. So if you like spoofs, even this classic will tickle your funny bone. A must have for your collection.

Which do you think is better? Dracula, Dead and Loving it or Love At First Bite? Shirley you can't be serious, lol :) April 20, 2008

Great vampire film

Nothing is funnier than a funny Dracula and George Hamilton is a great blood sucker. Susan Saint James who starred with Rock Hudson in MacMillan and Wife plays a very sexy but mixed up model who winds up as Dracula's next victim. Very funny humor but very adult. March 9, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...