Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)


Cassandra Peterson's character of Elvira certainly turned some heads in the 1980s.  For a number of young men it quickly made it clear which way we swung.  While not outspoken about it her look was based on drag queens and much of it designed as a collaboration between her and makeup artist Robert Redding.  Thus, her style and her brand of camp comedy appealed not just to the heterosexual fanbase one would expect.  Her strong, independent nature also appealed to many young women.

All this came from being a regional host of a show called Elvira's Movie Macabre, where she presented cheap horror films (It Conquered the World and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes are both featured in this film) and made quips about them before the commercial breaks.  One of the writers on the show was John Paragon, who would eventually also write for Pee-Wee Herman as well as play the genie on Pee-Wee's Playhouse.  Together with Same Egan the two leapt at the chance to bring Elvira to the big screen at the height of her popularity.

Elvira is a local horror host hoping to play the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.  Problem is, she needs 50 thousand dollars to put together the show, and she just quit her television job when the new owner of the station tried to get into her skirts.  However, she gets some good, and bad, news when she receives a telegram that her great aunt Morgana Talbot has passed away and put Elvira in her will.  The only thing is she must travel to Falwell, Massachusetts for the reading to find out what she got.

It turns out that it's Morgana's house, her dog and a recipe book.  The latter is something her great uncle Vincent (William Morgan Sheppard) wants to get his hands on, as it contains more than recipes.  The citizens of Falwell, led by Chastity Pariah (Edie McClurg), would like to see anything other than Elvira taking up permanent residence in their town, while the local teenage boys - and a number of the men - would just like to see anything of her.  It turns out, though, that Elvira has some family history that is quite interesting, and which Morgana took steps to protect her from.

I find Cassandra Peterson quite attractive in or out of the Elvira costume.  Mostly out, and, no, that's not a double entendre of my own.  It's too bad that a lot of casting agents didn't understand that Elvira was a character, not a person, and Peterson is a good comedic actress on her own.  She is also a good comedy writer as well, even though Elvira's Haunted Hills would have viewers thinking otherwise.  This is a long way around to saying that, while I find the character alluring, I have also in the past found her abrasive as well.  It is probably the Valley Girl accent, although I know that is some of her appeal to her bigger fans.

That is why I had never seen Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.  It was nice when she popped up in cameos, but I didn't think a whole movie of her would work and always looked at this film as a cash-in on her fleeting fame at the time.  It may have been that, but it's a shame I didn't see it earlier, as many of her more annoying traits are overshadowed by some great one-liners and Peterson's comedic timing.  There are some '80s comedy cliches, like the local teenagers banding together to help and the quirky outsider eventually overcome the uptight bullies.  However, there are also some great practical effects when we finally do get around to the horror elements, and everyone involved still manages to string a narrative together even if it is just a framework for the jokes.

William Morgan Sheppard is delightfully evil, while Edie McClurg is hilarious as the uptight matron who has drained every bit of fun out of Falwell, itself a fictional town named after the late and unlamented reverend.  It's light entertainment, the horror parts are not scary, and the Vegas performance at the end is a bit cringeworthy, but Elvira: Mistress of the Dark still holds up as a great comedy. 

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
Time: 96 minutes
Starring: Cassandra Peterson, Daniel Greene, William Morgan Sheppard, Edie McClurg
Director: James Signorelli

 

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