Love at First Bite

A harmless bit of fluff with fun performances. [27 Oct 2000, p.5]

A rowdy burlesque of the Dracula movies, set in Manhattan, with dilapidated stuffed bats and a large assortment of gags; some of them are funny in a low-grade, moldy way, and some are even stupidly racist, but many are weirdly hip, with a true flaky wit.

The career of the man who directed The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington could only go up, and it rocketed with this very funny comedy starring George Hamilton as Count Dracula, who's driven out of modern Transylvania by zealous Communist Party officials and heads for corrupt Manhattan, hoping to meet a trendy model he's seen in a fashion magazine. [13 Mar 2005, p.83]

Mr. Hamilton's knack for comedy has been a well-kept secret until now, but he's certainly funny in Love at First Bite, a coarse, delightful little movie with a bang-up cast and no pretensions at all.

Director Stan Dragoti keeps the chuckles coming, spaced by a few good guffaws.

For every bit that works there are three that don't, and the movie becomes somewhat tedious at times. Hamilton, however, is obviously having a good time with his role and has a field day with the Bela Lugosi accent.

Every now and then things get so convoluted that some sort of humor is achieved, but waiting through setup, setup, explanation of hoary joke, and delivery of hoary joke gets old fast, especially when the jokes are racist.