Love at First Bite (1979) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by Mister Cap ★★★★★

  Urkomisch! Ich liebe den Film und habe mich tatsächlich schon als Kind auf den ersten Biss in ihn verliebt.

  George Hamilton wurde nie genug für sein komödiantisches Talent gewürdigt, bevor er zu einer gebräunten Selbstparodie wurde. "Liebe auf den ersten Biss" und "Zorro mit der heißen Klinge" sind zwei meiner liebsten Komödien aller Zeiten und ich werde noch darüber lachen, wenn ich als Untoter herumgeistern sollte.

  Fazit:

  Wer bei diesem Film nicht lachen muss, ist tot. Die arme Kreatur weiß es nur noch nicht und sie kann nur hoffen, dass ihr elendes Dasein bald von einem Holzpflock erlöst wird.

• Review by Dave Edwards ★½

  I haven’t seen a movie with this many references to Roots since I watched Roots: The Next Generations.

  Best I can tell, Love at First Bite’s Roots obsession is at least tied with Beautiful Girls and it’s love of Rich Man, Poor Man for the movie with the most references to a 70s miniseries.

  And why was George Hamilton a thing? Can someone explain this to me? Cause it’s genuinely mystifying — he’s a terrible actor and not even remotely funny. If he was invited to a public event, they’d sit him at a table in the back with other irritating pop culture personalities like Gallagher, Pauly Shore, and Dom Deluise.

  How much do you think the production spent on makeup powder to rid Hamilton of his signature tan? I couldn’t stop thinking about the poor makeup artist who pulled the short straw. Talk about your shit gigs.

  Bleh!

• Review by Anna🍓 ★★½

  Day 20:
  George Hamilton as Dracula is an instant smash 🤭

  Silly but drags, felt like it was going for 3 hours.

• Review by kat🕷 ★★★½

  The days of Dracula's tyrannical rule in socialist Romania are numbered. The descendants of his long-suffering Transylvanian victims take matters into their own hands and strip him of his property, leaving Dracula and his devoted servant Renfield no choice but to escape. Seeking refuge in America, Dracula hopes to reunite with his beloved Cindy, a model (not the most convincing one—but beauty is in the eye of the beholder). A clever and whimsical Dracula spoof, highlighted by great performances from the supporting cast.

• Review by threepenny ★★★★½

  From his first line, "Children of the night...shut up!" George Hamilton is by far the funniest Count Dracula put to film. Always playing it totally straight. Susan Saint James is a riot as the girl of his dreams, in reality a heavy drinking, smoking, hook-up loving and flighty model. And it's a romance, because he accepts her, unconditionally, from the beginning to the end. There's no drama about who she is - she is who she is, deal with it. New York City is the third star, and the movie showcases the city, warts and all: its blackouts, its tenements, its hubcap-stealing and looting residents, its grizzled cops (Dick Shawn) and nerdy psychotherapists (Richard Benjamin), and loves it all, just…

• Review by Joel Hilke ★★½

  Here's another horror comedy that I loved as a little kid... but kind of comes off a little iffy to adult me. I remember it being hilarious... what with Renfield's laugh and that family who thinks a bat is a chicken. With adult eyes though, that was a poor black family too stupid to realize a bat wasn't a chicken... and now I tug at my collar uncomfortably at the casual 70s racism.

  Which doesn't mean I didn't find other scenes legitimately funny, it's just that there's a lot more scenes that lay flat and the third act is largely inert.

  Some of the Dracula and Van Helsing scenes that feed off of classic Dracula lore work the best. And…

• Review by Keith G ★★½ 6

  The October 2022 70s Horror Extravaganza #24

  "I do not drink... wine. And I do not smoke... shit."

  After being evicted from his Transylvanian castle by the Romanian Communist government, Count Dracula (George Hamilton) heads to the Big Apple, where he samples 70s culture including discotheque. Pursuing cooky promiscuous fashion model Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James) believing her to be a reincarnation of his beloved Mina. Standing in his way is useless and jealous psychiatrist Jeffrey Rosenberg (Richard Benjamin), a descendent of Van Helsing.

  In trying to be a little different with this 70s horror theme I thought I would go a little off the wall with a comedy. Since I have already logged Young Frankenstein on LB, it was…

• Review by Karl ★★★ 3

  Childhood favorite. Pretty dated but still a lot of fun. Renfield is appropriately disgusting. George Hamilton is all suave and plays the role straight resulting in hilarity by the stock New Yorkers who encounter him.
  The disco scene with I Love the Nightlife has been put back in the Scream Factory release. Apparently it was replaced for home viewing until said release. The film is best upon Dracula's arrival to NYC, including his hunt for blood on the sleazy streets of forty deuce and when turning into a bat wondering in a hungry families apartment who mistake him for a black chicken. Another funny bit is Renfield, who while flying to NYC ,watches a movie with rats attacking a lady.…

• Review by dadgumblah ★★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  While this movie is not a laugh-a-minute, it is utterly charming (yes, I used that phrase and I'm still keeping my man-card). There are laughs to be had as Count Dracula (George Hamilton) is evicted from his castle by Communist officials who are going to turn it into a training camp for gymnasts. Dracula leaves with his assistant Renfield (Artie Johnson, who has the Renfield laugh down-pat!), heading for America.

  Dracula has seen what may be the reincarnation of his true love in a magazine in the form of supermodel Cindy Sondheim (Susan Saint James). She's a total 70's cliche', hanging out at the disco every night, popping pills, drinking, and basically being a floozy---but all this doesn't matter to…

• Review by Hollie Horror ★★½ 3

  Renfield laughs just like "[it's] Pat."

• Review by louferrigno ★★

  I didn't expect much out of Love at First Bite and...well, it delivered. From the guy who would later go on to bring us Mr. Mom, as well as the one of the writers behind Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, comes a very sub-rate vampire comedy that really feels about as old hat as the immortal muse in his quest for love. There could be a fun irony in seeing Dracula trying to adjust to the modern world, whilst the world shown in the film is horribly dated with its heavy disco, Roots-obsessed black people, communist officials, and constant heavy burglary in New York (alright, maybe that last one's still accurate), but that would insinuate that this was indeed…

• Review by Kim ★★

  I really thought this was going to be better. And possibly, slightly less racist.