Love at First Like 2023

A macabre comedy about an ancient count finding his footing in a neon-drenched New York of the late 1970s. The notorious vampire Count Dracula is abruptly kicked out of his Romanian castle by a ruling Communist government that plans to repurpose the fortress into a gymnastics academy, even courting legends like Nadia Comăneci to train there. With a world-weary hitch in his step and a bug-eating manservant named Renfield in tow, the Count sets his sights on the bright lights of the other side of the Atlantic and heads for New York City. Fate, or sheer chaos, intervenes when a transport mix-up sends his coffin crashing into a Harlem funeral service, turning a solemn moment into a surreal spectacle as the coffin becomes the centerpiece of a black church ceremony.

In this wild, sun-scorched hello from the Big Apple, the Count discovers a city bursting with temptations and dangers he never anticipated. He encounters the nocturnal delights of blood banks, decadently forbidden discotheques, and the intoxicating energy of late-night street life, all while navigating the awkward social code of modern America. His longing fixation is a glamorous fashion model named Cindy Sondheim, a woman he has long imagined as the reincarnation of his beloved Mina Harker. He watches her from afar, drawn to her aura and the idea of a renewed, untamed passion that could finally bridge centuries of longing.

Yet Dracula’s arrival does not go unnoticed. A determined psychiatrist, Jeffrey Rosenberg, who styles himself a modern-day rival to the old nemesis of the Count, Fritz van Helsing, becomes convinced that the vampire is real and poses a threat to the city. Rosenberg—whose professional persona collides with his own escalating paranoia—takes an assortment of eccentric and misguided approaches to stop Dracula. He experiments with mirrors, conjures garlic, and attempts to replace the cross with a Star of David, all while trying to hypnotize the Count into submission. His unorthodox methods culminate in a daring, but ill-fated, attempt to burn Dracula’s coffin with the vampire inside, which ends with Rosenberg’s arrest by hotel security. Undeterred, he escalates to a plan involving silver bullets, only to be gently reminded by Dracula that such an anti-vampire weapon would matter little, since silver is more effective against werewolves than against the undead.

As the chase intensifies, another figure enters the frame: Lieutenant Ferguson of the NYPD, who becomes convinced by Rosenberg’s increasingly implausible stories about vampiric attacks. In a city already gripped by a blackout, Dracula makes his bid for freedom alongside Cindy, escaping in a taxi toward the airport as Rosenberg and Ferguson close in. The run of misfortune continues when the coffin is accidentally shipped to Jamaica instead of London, causing Dracula and Cindy to miss their flight and leaving the chase in a state of fevered limbo.

On the runway, a dramatic and uneasy moment unfolds as Cindy, drawn by whispers of destiny and desire, agrees to become Dracula’s bride. Rosenberg lunges for a stake, but the moment slips away as Dracula and Cindy manage a desperate flight, turning themselves into airborne silhouettes that vanish into the night. A bizarre twist of fate completes the saga when a stray check rains down from the sky, enabling Cindy to settle her substantial psychiatry bill with Rosenberg. In a curious coda, Rosenberg keeps Dracula’s cape—the only thing his stake managed to strike—while Ferguson borrows it for a night on his wedding anniversary, hoping to bolster his own stylish image. The enigmatic duo of Dracula and Cindy, transformed into bats, vanish toward Jamaica, leaving behind a city that has learned to stare unflinchingly into the absurd.