Vampire Film Fan Drank Victim’s Blood, Police Say

A man stabbed his girlfriend and drank her blood after seeing the movie “Interview With the Vampire,” police said.

Lisa Stellwagen, who survived being stabbed seven times in the chest and back, told police that Daniel Sterling “was drinking her blood for several minutes,” Inspector Reno Rapagnani said.

The two went together Nov. 17 to see the Tom Cruise drama about three vampires who consume the blood of humans, rats, pigeons and poodles, police said.

Stellwagen, 23, woke early the next morning to find Sterling in bed staring at her, she told police.

“She asked him, ‘What’s the matter?’ ” Rapagnani said. He “said to her, ‘I’m going to kill you and drink your blood.’ ”

The next evening, Sterling stabbed the woman in their bed, police said. She managed to get help after warning him that he would go to prison if she died, Rapagnani said.

Sterling, 25, in jail on an attempted murder charge, said he believes in vampires but would not want to be one.

“I was influenced by the movie. I enjoyed the movie,” Sterling told police. “But I cannot sit here and blame the movie.”