Real estate broker Kate Wooten (Sydney Walsh) is having trouble finding love while her roommate Ceila (Amanda Wyss) is now engaged to her fiancé Mike (Micah Grant). While attending a business party with her friend Martin (Scott Jacoby), Kate meets the enigmatic and charming Vlad Tepes (Brendan Hughes) who cultivates a romantic relationship with her unaware he is in fact the infamous Vlad the Impaler inspiration for the legend of Dracula.
To Die For is a 1989 low budget horror film produced by Greg H. Sims who was a fan of horror films including Dracula films and sought to approach the material more in the vein of a love story than a standard horror film. While only a modest performer in its initial release (though successful enough to spawn a direct-to-video/cable sequel) and mostly forgotten today, To Die For is actually a reasonably enjoyable film.
While To Die For doesn't stray too far from the established formula of vampire films trading in 19th century Wallachia for contemporary West Coast United States, the movie still tries to play itself as a straight gothic romance only within a modern day setting. With movies such as The Lost Boys and Fright Night became commercial successes by incorporating both horror and camp (as per the style of the time) while more serious such as The Hunger tended to be ignored by the public, you have to admire Sims for his commitment to making a vampire movie without a single twinge of irony to it despite the pethora of comparatively lighter teen skewing fare that had dominated the decade's depiction (for better or worse). Brendan Hughes and Sydney Walsh have solid chemistry as Vlad and Kate respectively and you do find yourself invested in the outcome of this story. I will say the writing is maybe a touch sloppy with a few too many characters and tangents for an 84 minute runtime with Scott Jacoby feeling somewhat edged out of the movie along with Micah Grant who probably could've been merged into the same character, and parts involving Celia or Steve Bond's Tom feel like they could've used some more breathing room. But minor gripes aside, Sims and his crew set out to create a serious minded vampire love story and they delivered on that front. I'd also be remised in my duty if I didn't mention they impressive effects work of John Carl Buechler (which also earned the film an X rating before an appeal) and we get some solid if sparingly used vampire slaying sequences and transformation effects even if parts like the Vampire's telekinesis are a little eyebrow raising.
I'll be the first to admit I have a soft spot for vampire films and you could argue maybe I'm being a little too generous here, but I like what I like. For a scant $1 million To Die For delivers on what it promises.
