Elvira's Haunted Hills

Whether or not you like this movie pretty much depends on what you think of Elvira. I've been an admirer since the late 80s, her look, and campy sense of humor has always appealed to me. The movie is pretty silly, and low budget, but if your an Elvira fan, then you wouldn't want it any other way. I saw this at a charity screening in Dallas, and Cassandra Petersen appeared and introduced the movie, answered questions, and signed autographs. She wasn't dressed as Elvira, she was just there as herself, I got to speak to her for a few minutes, and she signed a picture for me, she is still absolutely gorgeous, and a very sweet woman. She and her husband had to finance the movie themselves, the only deal the studios would offer wouldn't have allowed them to make any kind of profit from the movie, so if your a fan, then buy the DVD, you'll enjoy it, and if your not a fan, then buy it anyway, you can always look at Elviras "hills", that's worth the price alone.

Well, I must admit I was eagerly anticipating this release. I was especially psyched to see Richard O Brien making an appearance as Lord Hellsubus.

I thought that the first movie surpassed Haunted Hills, however, the more I watch Haunted Hills, the more it grows on me. I was so happy to see that Elvira is as beautiful as ever---truly an icon. I really like noticing more and more Poe references each time I watch-- Ligeia (Elvira/Elura), Morella (buried alive), House of Usher (castle's demise), the Black Cat/Cask of Amontillado (being walled up), and of course, the Pit and the Pendulum. I really loved the musical number "Life Is a Music Hall" (and i thought Elvira sang better in this one than in "Here I am").

Oh...and I recommend buying this movie...Cassandra Peterson financed much of it herself!!!

Elvira's still got it!

Even liking of Elvira's character created by Cassandra Peterson this picture stays miles away from his predecessor in many fields, firstly obviously the aged of Cassandra is perfect evident, the plot is facsimile of the countless Dracula's pictures, the far-fetched humor is another low point, Cassandra holds the picture in Elvira's trademark, your natural sex appeal, those white melons expose on entire picture grab the audience and fans, traveling on Transylvania Elvira and her maid the fat girl Zou Zou end up getting a ride by the Doctor Bradley to a hauting castle where live a mad Lord Vladimire Hellsubus and his unfaith second wife Lady Ema, as usually Elvira is a perfect clone of Lord Hellsubus's late wife, duly buried alive behind the wall previously, due she had committed adultery, all this summarized on a lot of scares and screams and some song sang by Elvira, the story and screenplay developed by own Cassandra, great effort to a small results, but whenever Elvira does is always supported by her natural charisma!!

Resume:

First watch: 2008 / How many: 2 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.25

Fans of Elvira shouldn't be disappointed. I used to watch Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira weekend afternoons in California hosting bad horror movies and loved her. The movie was good silly halloween humor. Many of the jokes didn't work, some did. Worth seeing just don't go in expecting the next great comedy. I enjoyed her first effort Elvira Mistress of the Dark better.

I enjoy the Elvira movies, no doubt about that. But "Elvira's Haunted Hills" does suffer under the 'curse' of being a sequel - that's being it fails to fully live up to the level of its predecessor "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark".

It does still have the same kind of dark comedy with undertones of sexual nature and just straight downright silliness. But this is, of course, what is part of the Elvira universe and character, and it is what the fans like, that and her in-your-face big, well, you know... charm and wits.

What puzzles me about the story in the 2001 movie "Elvira's Haunted Hills" is why it is set in 1851 Transylvania. Well, aside from the obvious B-movie reference to Dracula, of course, and for the Gothic backdrop, but other than that I didn't get it.

Storywise, then "Elvira's Haunted Hills" falters a bit compared to the 1988 movie "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark", both in contents and in progression. That being said, don't get me wrong, it is not a bad story, far from it. It just wasn't at the same level of the first movie.

Cassandra Peterson performs as to be expected, I mean, she is Elvira in the flesh, after all. But also Richard O'Brien (playing Lord Vladimere Hellsubus) and Heather Hopper (playing Lady Roxanna Hellsubus) really performed quite well in this movie.

The comedy in "Elvira's Haunted Hills" was a bit more subtle than the comedy in the 1988 predecessor, which was a shame, because it made it a tad less enjoyable. The scene that had me laughing the most was one of the last scene with the sinking castle, it was just such a wonderful spoof of Titanic.

All in all "Elvira's Haunted Hills" is an enjoyable movie, and a movie that any fan of Elvira should have in their movie collection. And while not embodying the same Halloween atmosphere as the 1988 movie, "Elvira's Haunted Hills" is still worth putting into a Halloween movie marathon just for the sake of it being Elvira!