"
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark"
*** (out of ****)
The first image we see in "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark" (1988) - which I will refer to as "Elvira" going forward - is footage of the Roger Corman "B" movie "It Conquered the World" (1956). From that moment you may think that is a tip off of what to expect from "Elvira", which will turn out to be an equally bad and campy movie. You'd only be half right.
Movies like "Elvira" are actually smarter than some audiences may give them credit for. It's easy to criticize something like this and not try to meet it at it's level. "Elvira" is much more self aware than "It Conquered the World". Those actors - a young Peter Graves stars in it - play their roles too straight. It makes us in the audience believe these actors are really taking this serious and that's what makes it unintentially funny. "Elvira" knows the Corman movie is bad. And it probably knows it too is a bad movie but it scathes itself with a wink and smile so we don't have to.
"Elvira" is part comedy / horror but also a social satire, which I found to be the more enjoyable aspect of the movie. That was an unexpected move. As many of us know Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) was a very popular cultural figure in the 1980s as the host of a television show airing campy horror movies which she would crack jokes about. Despite a heavy dose of cleavage the character was essentially a horny 12 year old boy. Or I guess we could say a more bawdy version of Mae West with dialogue flooded with sexual innuendos. Given the gothic nature of the character and its association with horror, you would expect Elvira's big screen movie debut to be a flat out horror movie spoof, like what was eventually done in "Elvira's Haunted Hills" (2001). The social satire however I thought gave the movie a little more depth.
The comedic approach here seems to have been lets take the Elvira character and instead of placing her in the natural environment of a horror movie, lets juxtapose her against a real world setting a la 1950s suburbia. Great comedians from the past did this with their well beloved and established comedic personas. Once the audience became familiar with a character, say like Woody Allen, the fun was to then take that character and throw him in different surroundings to see how he would interact. And so you get Woody in the future or as a character in Russian literature. This is what was decided with Elvira. The greatest contrast for this character would be suburban life setting up a conflict of social and sexual morals. In the "Haunted Hills" movie the unlady like manners of Elvira is set against the Victorian age.
Seemingly understanding her limitations, Peterson plays a late night horror program TV host named Elvira who quits her job after fighting off the advances of the station owner. This proves to be bad timing because she needs to secure $50 thousand dollars in order to launch her Las Vegas show. But the God's are smiling down at her when she discovers her great aunt, Morgana Talbot - Talbot was the surname of Larry Talbot, who would become the Wolf Man - has died. Elvira must travel to the small town of Fallwell - a reference to the Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell - to attend the reading of her aunt's will. Elvira fantasizes she will be the beneficiary of a great inheritance. One large enough to cover the money she needs for her Vegas act.
When at the reading, Elvira also discovers she has a uncle, Vincent (W. Morgan Sheppard) - perhaps a nod to Vincent Price, another king of "B" horror movies and reportedly offered this role. Suspiciously Vincent is left completely out of the will with the majority going to Elvira. However not receiving a flat out large sum of money, she finds the inheritance disappointing. Uncle Vincent meanwhile becomes obsessed with getting his hands on his departed sister's "cookbook".
If that isn't enough for Elvira to deal with the entire Massachusetts town is at odds with her thanks to the actions of the community leader Chastity Pariah (Edie McLurg) - whose name should say it all. She is appalled by the sight of Elvira and her blatant sexuality. Outside of some randy teenage boys, the only adult Elvira is able to make friends with is Bob Redding (Daniel Greene) - named after a close friend and collaborator of Cassandra's, Robert Redding, to whom the film is dedicated. Bob, who runs the local move theater, and he only permitted to show G rated movies, becomes the love interest, though he too is shy about sex.
The "horror" element of the story reveals itself in the Uncle portion of the plot. The cookbook isn't really a cookbook but rather a book of spells, which Elvira finds out too late, after trying to impress Bob with her cooking. If the book gets into Uncle Vincent's hands, it could spell disaster, making him all too powerful.
For me the horror plotline is the weakest portion of the movie with the social commentary being the strongest. I don't know if "Elvira" necessarily means to be a homage to Roger Corman and his horror movies, but I thought of another campy director as I watched "Elvira", John Waters. Waters, who if we are being charitable, also made movies that were social critiques of suburban middle-class morality, as most evident in what his devotees would call his "lesser" movies such as "Serial Mom" (1994) and "A Dirty Shame" (2004).
The reason the horror plotline doesn't work is because the movie doesn't take it serious. There is nothing scary about the Uncle being a warlock. No fear is built around this and we don't fully understand all the implications of Vincent getting the book and his ultimate plans if he should get it. "Elvira" also does nothing in way of atmosphere and working within the clichés of the genre. Which creates a missed opportunity. Elvira could have starred in her own really bad and campy horror movie.
It seems screenwriters Sam Egan, John Paragon and Peterson had the most fun and interest in the social satire and making their own version of a teenage sex comedy. A lot of the humor in "Elvira" is juvenile at best. Because of Elvira's low cut dress and ample bosom there are a lot of breast jokes. The camera almost seems fixated on them. As if to imply they are too big not to be in any given shot.
Because of the juvenile nature of the movie, the adult relationships aren't dealt with in a mature manner either. We don't accept Elvira and Bob really care about each other. In fact it is kind of difficult to see what Elvira even finds attractive about him. What we see on-screen is like an innocent high school romance where kissing is about as far as you're gonna get.
And yet I do like "Elvira" and its comedically broad and silly nature while also appreciating the social commentary, which isn't as compelling and hard hitting as something by Tennessee Williams. It uses a broad brush to mock the social conservatism movement brought on by Falwell and Ronald Reagan. It's clear the performances are meant to be almost cartoon in nature and Peterson is funny and has a good screen presence. Peterson got her comedy start as a member of the improv troupe, The Groundlings which included Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) and Phil Hartman. Other members of that troupe appear in "Elvira" like Edie McClurg, Lynne Marie Stewart (whom my generation will know as Miss Yvonne, the most beautiful woman in Puppetland) and co-writer John Paragon (Jambi the Genie on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse").
Supposedly Peterson wanted Tim Burton to direct "Elvira", as he had directed her friend Reuben's project, "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985), making his directorial debut. But by the time "Elvira" was in production, he was busy with other projects. Instead
Saturday Night Live segment producer James Signorelli was brought in. His only other feature-length directorial effort was the Rodney Dangerfield comedy,
"Easy Money" (1983). "Elvira" would be his last feature film as a director. As much as I love Rodney - he's on my Mt. Rushmore of great stand-up comics - I actually prefer Signorelli's work on this film.
Unfortunately, "Elvira" didn't do well at the box-office or with critics. Siskel & Ebert gave the movie two thumbs down. And in a major case of over-reacting, Peterson was nominated for a Razzie Award for "worst actress", which she lost to Liza Minnelli for "Arthur 2" (1988) and "Rent-a-Cop" (1988).
Younger viewers probably won't like this movie either because of the Elvira character and the overt sexuality. On the website Irish Film Critic, a "critic" wrote a contemporaneous review of the movie and actually stated, "I want to talk about how insanely male-centric the gaze of this camera is as it sweeps back and forth across Elvira's exposed legs and thighs." He goes on to add, "The whole thing exists within the macrocosm of the '80s." I guess I am such a product of the '80s that I hadn't really considered Elvira could be a controversial figure to today's viewers.
Elvira was very much a product of the 1980s and has had an enduring legacy and a career that has lasted more than 40 years. Peterson debuted her Elvira character on a local Los Angeles TV show in 1981 before going national. While it is difficult to deny the influence of Maila Nurmi's Vampira, who is credited as being TV's first horror host, Peterson created a distinctly different character. With the passage of time people have forgotten not only Nurmi but her Vampira character - if interested watch Ed Wood's infamous "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1957) - making Elvira the horror host most are familiar with and influenced by. A modern example would be Sarah Palmer's Gwengoolie, seen on the show
Svengoolie. Although Palmer's character isn't sexual.
"Elvira" isn't a great movie or even a great comedy but it is a satisfactory one that manages to succeed in large part because of Peterson's charm and screen presence. The script tries to elevate itself with the social satire but I do wish it would have worked harder on the horror aspect of the plot. "Elvira's Haunted Hills" made a greater effort but didn't fully capitalize on it either.
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