The film stars Jonathan Lipnicki, Rollo Weeks, Richard E. Grant, Jim Carter, and Alice Krige.

Nine-year-old Tony Thompson moves with his family from California to Scotland, where they take up residence in a small castle while his father is employed building a golf course on the estate of Lord McAshton.

The two boys quickly become friends, and Rudolph confides to Tony that his family only drink animal blood and wish to become human.

After a chase, Tony and Rudolph manage to escape with the amulet while Rookery inadvertently drives his truck over a cliff after getting entangled in a blimp.

Tony and Rudolph succeed in bringing Frederick the amulet, but the ceremony is interrupted by Rookery, who returns riding the blimp.

The consensus states: "The Little Vampire can't seem to find the right pitch, with its muddled, jumpy script and badly executed mix of cuteness and fright".

[6] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times gave it a positive review, and called the film "literate, clever, mischievous and just plain fun".

[7] Roger Ebert, however, gave the film two stars, saying that "the movie has first-rate credits, from the director Uli Edel (Last Exit to Brooklyn) to the writers Karey Kirkpatrick (James And The Giant Peach) and Larry Wilson (Beetlejuice), to the cast (Lipnicki played the kid in Jerry Maguire and Stuart Little).

[9] Jan Stuart for The Los Angeles Times praised most of the cast, but criticized Lipnicki, and said: "Older kids and grown-ups looking for more sophisticated humor will have to content themselves with a running gag about vampire cows, which could have been funnier than Edel makes it here".