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 Saint 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 film 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. The original music score was composed by Charles Bernstein. The film's tagline is: "Your favorite pain in the neck is about to bite your funny bone!" Image File history File links Size of this preview: 384 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (484 × 755 pixel, file size: 73 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) This image is of a film poster, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the film... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... George Hamilton may refer to: George Hamilton (actor) (born 1939) His father, a bandleader George Hamilton, IV (born 1937), country music performer George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney (1666-1737) George Hamilton (commentator), gaffe-prone football (soccer) commentator. ... Susan Saint James (born on August 14, 1946) is an American actress, who became a household word at age 22, starting as an editorial assistant, Peggy Maxwell, on The Name of the Game, then as Rock Hudsons younger supportive wife, Sally McMillan in the popular 1970s crime drama, McMillan... Richard Benjamin in July 1986. ... Arte Johnson (born January 20, 1929), full name Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson, is a comedic actor. ... Richard Schulefand (December 1, 1924 – April 17, 1987), an American actor and comedian known professionally as Dick Shawn, was born in Buffalo, New York. ... Charles Bernstein (February 28, 1943) is a Daytime Emmy Award winning composer for film and television music. ... He wrote along with Donald Appleyard Towards an Urban Design Manifesto In this paper he discribes how cities should be layed out. ... The early AIP logo. ... is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... // Events March 5 - Production begins on Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. ... The word comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humor with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... Horror Movie redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847 – April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Susan Saint James (born on August 14, 1946) is an American actress, who became a household word at age 22, starting as an editorial assistant, Peggy Maxwell, on The Name of the Game, then as Rock Hudsons younger supportive wife, Sally McMillan in the popular 1970s crime drama, McMillan... Richard Benjamin in July 1986. ... Arte Johnson (born January 20, 1929), full name Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson, is a comedic actor. ... Charles Bernstein (February 28, 1943) is a Daytime Emmy Award winning composer for film and television music. ...

Plot summary

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. Philip Burne-Jones, The Vampire, 1897 Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings that subsist on human and/or animal lifeforce. ... Count Dracula is a fictional character, the titular antagonist of Bram Stokers 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Dwight Fry as Renfield in the 1931 adaptation of Dracula. ... For other uses, see Harlem (disambiguation). ...

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 Sondheim, whom he has admired from afar and believes to be the current reincarnation of his true love (an earlier being Mina Harker). A blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusions. ... Wilhelmina Mina Harker is a fictional character of Bram Stokers seminal horror novel Dracula. ...

Dracula is ineptly pursued in turn by Sondheim's psychiatrist and quasi-boyfriend Jeffrey Rosenberg. He is the grandson of Dracula's old nemesis Fritz (sic!) van Helsing but changed his name to something Jewish "for professional reasons". Rosenberg tries numerous methods to combat Dracula: mirrors, garlic and a Star of David (which he uses instead of the cross) and hypnosis are easily averted by the Count. Rosenberg burns Dracula's coffin with the vampire still inside but is arrested by hotel security. Subsequently he tries to shoot him with three silver bullets but Dracula remains unscathed and patiently explains that this works only on werewolves. His increasingly erratic actions eventually repeatedly cause him to be locked up, but as mysterious cases of blood-bank robberies and vampiric attacks begin to spread, NYPD Lieutenant Ferguson starts to believe Rosenberg's claims and gets him released. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ... Helsing and Van Helsing redirect here. ... This article is about a Jewish symbol. ... Professor Charcot was well-known for showing, during his lessons at the Salpêtrière hospital, hysterical woman patients – here, his favorite patient, Blanche (Marie) Wittman, supported by Joseph Babiński. ... A German woodcut from 1722 A werewolf (also lycanthrope or wolfman) in folklore is a person who shapeshifts into a wolf or wolflike creature, either purposely, by using magic, or after being placed under a curse. ...

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 Ferguson. The coffin is accidentally sent to Jamaica instead of London and the couple miss their plane. On the runway, Cindy finally agrees to become Dracula's vampire bride. Rosenberg is trying to stake Dracula, but as the two fly off as bats together. A cheque drops down by which Cindy pays off her (enormous) psychiatry bill to Rosenberg, to which he remarks: "She has become a responsible person ... or whatever." Rosenberg keeps Dracula's cape - the only thing his stake had hit - which Fergusson borrows, hoping (since the cape makes the wearer look stylish) it will help him on his wedding anniversary. The last scene shows two bats on their way to Jamaica. Power Outage is an episode of The WB drama series, Charmed. ...

Main 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 Renfield

George Hamilton may refer to: George Hamilton (actor) (born 1939) His father, a bandleader George Hamilton, IV (born 1937), country music performer George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney (1666-1737) George Hamilton (commentator), gaffe-prone football (soccer) commentator. ... Susan Saint James (born on August 14, 1946) is an American actress, who became a household word at age 22, starting as an editorial assistant, Peggy Maxwell, on The Name of the Game, then as Rock Hudsons younger supportive wife, Sally McMillan in the popular 1970s crime drama, McMillan... Richard Benjamin in July 1986. ... Richard Schulefand (December 1, 1924 – April 17, 1987), an American actor and comedian known professionally as Dick Shawn, was born in Buffalo, New York. ... Arte Johnson (born January 20, 1929), full name Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson, is a comedic actor. ...

Trivia

• 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.

Sherman Hemsley (born February 1, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an Emmy Award nominated and Image Award winning African American character actor most famous for his roles as George Jefferson, on the television shows All in the Family and The Jeffersons and as Deacon Ernest Frye on Amen. ... Isabel Sanford (born as Eloise Gwendolyn Sanford August 29, 1917 – July 9, 2004) was an American actress most famous for her role as Louise Weezie Jefferson on the CBS television sitcoms All in the Family (1971-1975) and The Jeffersons (1975-1985). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is a gap or incongruity between what a speaker or a writer says and what is generally understood (either at the time, or in the later context of history). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Sequel

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

External links

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