The 1979 was a grand year for cinematic vampires. There was John Badham’s DRACULA with Frank Langella, Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE with Klaus Kinski, Tobe Hooper’s telefilm SALEM’S LOT, and a few others of varying quality. Also that year came LOVE AT FIRST BITE, a send-up of Dracula movies with George Hamilton in the lead role, proving his comic talent alongside an ideal cast. One of AIP’s final releases, LOVE AT FIRST BITE was a hit when first released, and maintained a study stream of fans over the years through frequent cable TV showings. It’s a wonder why this took so long to make it to DVD, but here it is at last!

A suave but lonely Count Dracula (George Hamilton) spends his nights drooling over a model in an American glamour magazine. The angry villagers are sick of centuries of bloodsucking, so they drive him and his “aristocratic shit” out of Transylvania, and on to a flight to New York with his trusty, bug-munching sidekick Renfield (Artie Johnson). Dracula’s coffin accidentally winds up at a funeral in Harlem, but he eventually makes his way to the Plaza Hotel. His obsession with cover-girl Cindy Sondheim (Susan St. James) is fueled when he meets her in a night club, pulls her out onto the dance floor and later is invited to her apartment for a night of necking and lovemaking. When Cindy tells her ex boyfriend and psychiatrist Dr. Jeff Rosenberg (Richard Benjamin) about her experience and shows him her neck nips, Rosenberg realizes Dracula is alive and well, and he's determined to hunt him down, being the grandson of Professor Van Helsing. As Rosenberg attempts to kill the vampire, Dracula and Cindy become more deeply involved, and the hapless monster hunter is believed to be insane, being thrown into Bellevue Hospital. When reports of a blood bank heist hit the newspapers, Lieutenant Ferguson (Dick Shawn) has no choice but to believe in Rosenberg and to help him capture Drac before he bites Cindy for a third time, the charmer in vampire lore.

Over 25 years after it was released, LOVE AT FIRST BITE still holds up as a picture to giggle at and enjoy. Hamilton is perfectly cast as the Count, doing the heavy accent well and physically getting it down right, even if it’s for the sake of laughs. Hamilton was always good in comic roles or in serious ones, but this is one of a handful he’ll best be remembered for. Susan St. James seems unlikely as a glamour model, but is quite good since she has great comic timing, and the character of Cindy is basically, a pot-smoking, pill-popping, therapy-seeking mess who wears wigs and tons of make-up. Although Dracula seemed to pick out an unreachable, larger-than-life woman on a magazine as his love, she turns out to be a wreck who really needs what he has to offer, and this makes the chemistry between the two shine. Artie Johnson obviously studied Dwight Frye’s Renfield very carefully, and has the irritating laugh down perfectly and takes the insect-eating cliché to the max, issuing in some very funny moments. Richard Benjamin, one of the most underrated comic actors of the 60s and 70s is very funny as well. You might find it hard to believe that a descendent of Van Helsing would be stupid enough to pull out a Star of David on a vampire, or shoot him with silver bullets, but Benjamin pulls it off so well, and the more crazy his character becomes in the film, the more amusing he is to watch. Dick Shawn (another underrated comic actor who left us too early) is also fun as the police detective who finally gives in to believing in vampires.

LOVE AT FIRST BITE is not overly hilarious, but it still guarantees a good number of laughs and is an enjoyable farce from start to finish. Lots of the jokes and dialog seem like they could have come out of an episode of “The Munsters,” but of course with more of a 1970s edge to them. Even though Hamilton’s Dracula in voice and appearance is molded after Bela Lugosi, once the Count arrives in the Big Apple, the movies seems to be more inspired by the modern vampire flicks of the early 70s. When Dracula is unsuccessfully threatened by street thugs in Harlem, it’s very reminiscent of a scene in SCREAM BLACULA, SCREAM (as is a scene with a drunk, but this time Drac is naïve enough to put the bite on him). A few parts are reminiscent of VAMPIRA (aka OLD DRACULA) as well, yet the film never really rips off anything, but rather spoofs or pays homage to other vampire flicks. Since this is 1979, political correctness goes out the window, so in good fun Dracula is seen calling a misplaced black man’s corpse a “swatzer," in bat form is chased by a family of hungry Puerto Ricans who think he’s a chicken, and in dog form he pisses on the leg of an irritating cop.

During the height of their “The Jeffersons” TV fame, both Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford have separate and short but memorable cameos. Hemsley plays the reverend who crashes through a window at the site of Dracula’s open casket, and Sanford is a judge who calls Benjamin and Shawn “honkies,” and screams, “…and our people have come a long way for you to be coming in here with that voodoo Dracula shit!” Also in small cameos are Michael Pataki, Ronnie Schell and Barry Gordon. Eric Laneuville (THE OMEGA MAN) appears in a running as a street punk who just can’t stay out of trouble.

As usual, MGM has delivered another excellent transfer. Although some of the opening low-lit seems appear a bit murky, it’s probably just the way the film was shot, as the vault materials used for the transfer are flawless, with good color saturation and rich detail. The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement, and the full screen version is on the flip side. The English Dolby Digital mono audio track is clean with no hiss or any other detectable defects. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are also included.

On our sour note, the hit song, “I Love the Night Life” by Alicia Bridges has been edited from this version, and replaced with different music during the dance floor segment. Never heard in any of the previous home video versions of the film either, the song is still listed in the closing credits and is played prominently during the original theatrical trailer included here. It would have been nice to have an audio commentary with director Stan Dragoti, George Hamilton and other cast members, as well as the alternate scenes which showed up on broadcast TV, but sadly, this is a barebones release. (George R. Reis)

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