Movie Macabre

The show that launched Cassandra Peterson as the popular character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. In 1981, six years after the death of Larry Vincent, who starred as host Sinister Seymour of a Los Angeles weekend horror show called Fright Night (1970), show producers began to bring the show back, and decided to use a female host. They asked 1950s' horror hostess Maila Nurmi to revive The Vampira Show (1954). Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but quit when the producers would not hire black actress Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station sent out a casting call and Cassandra Peterson won the role because they liked how she could be sexy and funny at the same time. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with a sexy punk/vampire look and came up with the name Elvira. The show was then retitled Elvira's Movie Macabre.

The DVD releases feature the movies uncut and uncensored.

Featured in Vampira and Me (2012)