Dinner With a Vampire is a made for TV movie and it's directed by Lamberto Bava, so obviously you cant go into it expecting to see a film of the highest quality. While this is certainly not of the highest quality, for me the good ideas and interesting execution more than make up for that! I really can't say that I've seen every vampire film and read every bit of literature on the subject; and while I've seen similar ideas in other films, it really does have to be said that this is an original take on a subject that has been done to death - and you need at least credit the film with that. The film begins with a film crew that unwittingly unearths a one thousand year old vampire. Fast forward some years and the vampire is a successful horror film director who is holding auditions across the world for starring roles in his latest film. Four wannabe actors are chosen for the roles and make their way to his house - where they are informed that he is bored of his immortal life, and told that they have until dawn to kill him...or face a fate worse than death.The film is really more of a comedy than a horror film, and it has to be said that a lot of the comedy is misplaced - although it does have some amusing moments. The lead role is taken by George Hilton - an actor I'm more used to seeing playing suave leads in Giallo's. He's actually really good here - he's aged a bit since the seventies and really looks the part as the bored vampire. Naturally, the rest of the cast is barely worth a mention, but really this is Hilton's show anyway. Lamberto Bava is not as great a director as his father, but he does know how to build an atmosphere - and the setting here is really great; a lavish castle with a cobweb filled dungeon! It's well used too, which is a good job since the bulk of the film takes place in it. The best thing about Dinner With a Vampire for me is definitely the way it handles the vampire legend; parts of it are kept and other parts are lampooned, and overall Bava succeeds in creates a mythology all of his own. The story boils down to something of a predictable conclusion; although the way that the vampire is killed is really good and it's a lot of fun getting there. The film will not appeal to everyone, and indeed it doesn't exactly have a great reputation; but for me the style and execution more than outweighs the flaws, and I would recommend this film to any horror fan!

My only regret is that one cannot grade a movie on IMDb with a 0. "A Cena..." would definitely deserve that! At LEAST.*SPOILER?* The movie starts with a bunch of people entering a crypt to awaken an ancient Vampire. When a guy cuts himself and his blood drips and falls onto the putrid and dried corpse that is supposed to be a bloodsucker, the metamorphosis takes place and the Vampire, in an ANIMATION-like effect (would you believe it!), quickly takes on a more human form,only to reveal that he's wearing a tux and a bow-tie! A BOW-TIE, yes. Red, if my memory serves me right! I tried to check out random scenes by skipping through a bit, but it did not get any better than the opening sequences. That's the point when I turned the movie off, cursing it for having made me hope to see a Vampire movie. This is surely not one,unless you're 5 and could take such stupidity seriously.So, if you like Vampires and don't want to feel revolted or even disgusted,learn from my mistake and don't even try to see this garbage!

This film was disappointing. As a rule of my own, I never like comedy mixed with vampires - 99% of the time I think it fails, and does on this occasion. One slightly redeeming quality was the Dorian Gray sub-plot, but even this failed to help the film along.Bloodless and not funny at all. One for collectors only.

From what I understand, Mr. Bava abandoned this project before completion...AND RIGHTFULLY SO!!! If I were him I definitely would have made sure that EVERY copy was burned and if anybody in the future ever asked me about this film...IT NEVER HAPPENED & IT NEVER EXISTED...end of story.Despite some great sets and good photography this is one horrible film...is it supposed to be scary? (not in the least) is it supposed to be funny?? (puh-leese) A total waste of time...and I really don't like to have to say that!!