Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"Elvira: Mistress of the Dark" is pretty harmless stuff, an unmemorable but lightly enjoyable horror spoof. If it does anything well, that's the way that it showcases the talents of its star, the still-very-sexy-after-all-these-years Cassandra Peterson. Here she gets to bring her popular character to the big screen in this amiable vehicle. It's never exactly scary, but it's not trying to be, either. Admittedly, it is very silly, but it's hard to imagine anybody going into this expecting anything different. The cast plays the material for all that it's worth.Cassandra co-wrote the script, with her fellow Groundlings castmate John Paragon and Sam Egan. The idea is that TV horror host Elvira loses her job and desperately needs money in order to put on a Vegas production. Wouldn't you know it, a relative dies, a great aunt named Morgana, who lived in a small town named Falwell. Elvira shakes up the ultra conservative nature of this place, which is loathe to permit people to actually have fun. Ultimately, she must deal with a variety of nemeses: stuck up Patty (Susan Kellermann), local busybody Chastity Pariah (ever lovable Edie McClurg), and her own great uncle Vincent (William Morgan Sheppard). Vincent wants to get his hands on the book that Elvira inherited; Elvira thinks it's just a boring old recipe book but Vincent knows different.Cassandra is full aware of her greatest assets, with dozens of breast jokes for the occasion. She's as fun as she's ever been playing this character, fully embracing the campy approach and its loving mockery of low budget horror. The special effects are generally quite amusing, especially the pot monster. Daniel Greene is perfectly likable as Elviras' hunky nice guy love interest Bob Redding, and there's a number of familiar faces in this supporting cast: Kris Kamm, Ira Heiden, William Duell, Jeff Conaway, Frank Collison, Kurt Fuller, and Hugh Gillin. Buffs will be pleased to note the use of Roger Cormans' "It Conquered the World" as it gets mocked during the opening minutes. All in all, the movie moves at an adequate pace and is pleasant enough.Six out of 10.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) * 1/2 (out of 4) TV horror host Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) is notified that the great-aunt she never knew has died and left her a mansion. Elvira shows up in the small town where many of the old-fashioned locals look down on her but even worse is the fact that this old house contains a recipe book, which brings with it all sorts of spells and monsters. I've never been a fan of horror hosts and I never was a fan of Elvira so I really wasn't sure what to expect from this film. I had heard many negative things about this over the years and while the film is pretty bad it also has a certain charm that keeps it somewhat watchable. The entire screenplay is bizarre to say the least because it's never quite sure what type of film it wants to be. I say this because it's kept kid friendly but at the same time you've got all sorts of strange sexual talk that really stands out because you're not expecting to hear it in a movie like this and when you do hear it, it just stands out from everything else going on. All the boob jokes aimed at Elvira is expected and I think a good argument could be made that the film producers would have been much better served had the film gone for a tad bit darker and more adult natured film. The horror elements are all rather weak but I think fans of the genre will get a few smiles out of seeing some cult movies shown here including IT CONQUERED THE WORLD and ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOS. There's also a pretty funny joke involving the first potion that Elvira cooks out. As for Peterson, I'd be lying if I said she gave a "good" performance but she is good at the character she created and there's no question she can play the part well. The supporting players are all good in their parts but no one really stands out and takes over the film. ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK has a little charm but certainly not enough to carry a fairly weak story.

I was talked into watching this the other night at a party. I said "NO THANKS!" but my friend told me I'd like it. Guess what? I liked it. Elvira was so good at her delivery. I'm surprised she didn't do more films, since she was a natural on camera. This movie is not to be taken seriously obviously, but the one-liners kept stacking up. Many that I would consider using in the future.I could go into the plot, but it is a paper thin plot which is okay. The film has a kitschy fun playful mood and that's the plot as far as I'm concerned. I'd recommend this if you grew up in the 80s and have a fun sense of humor. This isn't trying to be a masterpiece. It's just fun, and having seen so many movies that attempt this kind of film I am glad to have discovered it. Congrats, Cassandra, you did well!

The first celebrity crushes I remember having as a child were on Morticia Adams from the "The Addams Family" and TV-show hostess Vampira from Ed Wood's film "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (and yes, I was a completely normal child). Unfortunately I was never too familiar with Elvira, even though she's pretty much a campy knock-off of them both and her TV-work belongs more to my generation. Her show "Movie Macabre" never aired here in Europe, however, and I never really bothered to seek out her long-feature films because they look so … silly. This is thus my first real acquaintance with Elvira and, even though it certainly isn't the worst film I've ever seen, I can't say I regret having waited so long. Mrs. Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film, undoubtedly knows her cinematic trash and clearly treasures devotion for B-movies, but the film itself unfortunately is just a gigantically juvenile farce focusing on her very own bosom (which is quite impressive notwithstanding) instead of a cool tribute to genre movies. Elvira's offensively witty one-liners and revealing outfits actually take the attention away from the inexistent and mundane plot. When Elvira gets fired from her TV job in Los Angeles, she finally hopes to start her very own show in Las Vegas, but she needs 50k$ for that to happen. But then she gets a letter announcing her great aunt has died and Elvira's name is mentioned in the will. She arrives in a traditional little New England town, where her appearance and behavior promptly shocks the puritan and conservative local population, only to find out she inherited a hideous old house, a cookbook and a poodle. Whilst hanging around waiting for her broken down car, Elvira befriends the younger generation of Fallwell and discovers that her deceased aunt was actually a good witch who wanted to prevent her malignant brother Vincent Talbot from obtaining her magic powers. The first half of "Mistress of the Dark" is just boob jokes and nothing else. The second half tries to be a little more involving, with a dumb but funny cooking interlude, an exciting edition of the yearly Fallwell summer picnic and a genuine old-fashioned New England with hunt. Besides Peterson herself, this film benefices from a pretty solid ensemble cast and everyone delivers performances that are not worthy of the movie, in fact. William Morgan Sheppard is awesome as the wicked Uncle Vincent, and there are neat little roles as well for Susan Kellerman, Edie McClurg and Pat Crawford Brown as the uptight townspeople. The only misfit in the cast is Daniel Greene, who looks incredibly dim-witted as Elvira's love interest. She's clearly too hot to handle for him and he was the Atomic Cyborg!