Elvira, Mistress of the Dark

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is a popular figure in American culture who has appeared in a variety of media since the early 1980s. She is portrayed by Cassandra Peterson (born September 17, 1951).

Elvira is known for her high beehive hairdo, complex eye makeup, revealing dress & curvaceous figure, and propensity for corny jokes.

Movie Macabre

In 1981, Elvira debuted as the host of Movie Macabre, a late-night television program that showed "scary" movies. It was originally intended to revive the character Vampira, but Vampira's creator/performer Maila Nurmi left the project over creative differences. The character of Elvira was partially based on a "valley girl" character that Peterson had developed as part of the Groundlings comedy troupe, which she had belonged to alongside Phil Hartman, Edie McClurg, and Paul Rebuens (Pee-Wee Herman), among others.

Like Mystery Science Theater 3000, Movie Macabre features host segments consisting of short sketches. Elvira occasionally interrupts the movie, appearing on screen to make a short joke, though this did not include a running commentary such as on MST3K.

Movie Macabre ran from 1981 until 1986. It was eventually syndicated across the United States, and was re-run frequently. Episodes have also been released on home video.

Movie Macabre was revived in 2010 with a 20-episode production run. Some of the films were re-used from the original run with new material produced.

The following is a list of films that have been used by both Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Movie Macabre:

• The Incredible Melting Man
• The Human Duplicators
• Village of the Giants
• The Giant Gila Monster
• The Brain That Wouldn't Die
• Eegah
• Teenagers from Outer Space
• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
• Tormented
• "Manos" The Hands of Fate
• Hercules and the Captive Women
• It Lives by Night (under its alternate title The Bat People)
• The Time Travelers
• Attack of the Giant Leeches
• The Killer Shrews
• Circus of Horrors

While Movie Macabre did not use any of the same Gamera movies used by Mystery Science Theater 3000, it did include the film Gamera: Super Monster, which features Gamera fighting creatures very similar to Gaos, Guiron, and Zigra (as seen on MST3K).

Some films featured on Movie Macabre were later used by Cinematic Titanic. These include Legacy of Blood, Doomsday Machine, The Oozing Skull (under its alternate title The Creature's Revenge), Danger on Tiki Island (under its alternate title Island of Living Horror), Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks, and Rattlers. Additionally, some films used on Movie Macabre have been used by The Film Crew (Killers from Space), RiffTrax, and The Mads Are Back.

Other Projects

Starting in the mid-1980s, Elvira provided host segments for a series of home video releases called Thriller Video. The series includes The Human Duplicators and Blood Waters of Dr. Z (released under the alternate title Attack of the Swamp Creatures). She later released a similar series called Elvira's Midnight Madness, which includes The Crawling Hand, The Giant Gila Monster, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Eegah, and The Wasp Woman.

Elvira with a Hobgoblin in 2014.

Elvira starred in an annual Halloween-themed live stage show at the Knott's Berry Farm theme park in Buena Park, California until 2017.

In 2014, a new series of 13 episodes was produced for the on-line streaming service Hulu, which were made available over the last 13 days of October in an event called "Thirteen Nights of Elvira". One of the films selected was Hobgoblins. Other films used include Oblivion and Shrunken Heads, which both became RiffTrax presentations in subsequent years.

Films and Television

Two feature films have been produced starring Elvira. The first was entitled Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and was released on September 30, 1988 (about 2 months before the debut of Mystery Science Theater 3000). It is set in the modern day and depicts Elvira fighting prejudice and evil magic in a small town. The antagonist is a warlock played by W. Morgan Sheppard named Vincent Talbot (whose name was reportedly inspired by those of the actors Vincent Price and Lyle Talbot). Other notable cast members include Jeff Conaway, Edie McClurg, and Kurt Fuller.

The film begins with Elvira showing an edited clip from the end of It Conquered the World (which was never used on Movie Macabre). She mentions that the next week she'll be showing The Thing with Two Heads, and her dressing room set includes a poster for The Crawling Hand. Later in the film, she hosts a live screening of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Elvira's Haunted Hills, the second film starring Elvira, was released in 2001. It is not a sequel to the first film, but a period piece that places in Elvira in settings reminiscent of the the works of Edgar Allen Poe. It features actor Richard O'Brien, who is known for having played Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which he also co-wrote).

Elvira produced a pilot for a half-hour sitcom for CBS in 1993. The premise is similar to that of her first film with Elvira living in a small town and attempting to find romance and bond with a young person, but it was not picked up for a series. It is available to watch on YouTube.

Elvira briefly appears (unnamed but in her distinctive costume) in the 1983 film Stroker Ace, starring Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson. She aggressively flirts with Jim Nabors' character, who is nonplussed.

40th Anniversary

In autumn of 2021, a number of projects and events took place to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Elvira's debut on television. In September, Cassandra Peterson published a memoir entitled Yours Cruelly, Elvira. It contains her reflections on her professional career and some revelations about her personal life.

That same month, Ms. Peterson hosted Elvira’s 40th Anniversary, Very Scary Very Special Special, a mini-marathon of horror films presented in the style of Movie Macabre. It aired on the Shudder streaming service and consisted of Elvira hosting 4 movies: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, House on Haunted Hill, City of the Dead (both of which had previously been used for RiffTrax productions), and Messiah of Evil. In October, Elvira appeared in a series of shorts for Netflix entitled "Netflix and Chills" in which she promoted the streaming service's horror content. One of these shorts was released every Sunday in October leading up to Halloween.

Additionally, the collectibles company NECA released a semi-poseable 6-inch figurine of Elvira a part of their Toony Terrors line. They also announced a 7" action figure which features a more realistic likeness and multiple points of articulation. Both figures were also re-released with alternate color schemes.

MST3K Connections

• KTMA broadcast two episodes of Movie Macabre on Thanksgiving Day in 1988 following the two-episode debut of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

  

• During the first host segment of Episode #K11 - Humanoid Woman, Dr. Forrester and Dr. Erhardt are shown admiring a cardboard standee of Elvira.
• A 1994-95 storyline from the Elvira: Mistress of the Dark comic book series featured characters that were analogues of Joel Robinson, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. They had been lured into a trap along with several other television movie hosts and were rescued by Elvira.
• A later comic book storyline from 2021-2022 depicted Elvira helping the ghost of actor Vincent Price to stop a world-endangering threat. This story was published with the approval of Price's estate and his daughter Victoria (who had joined The Mads for their livestream of The Tingler). Cassandra Peterson has stated that Price's film The House on Haunted Hill is her favorite scary movie, and this has also been applied to the character Elvira.

  

• In 1995, Frank Conniff wrote the primetime TV special Attack of the Killer B Movies, which stars Elvira. The 2-hour special features heavily edited versions of the films The Wasp Woman (which had also been colorized), Killers from Space (also colorized), Monster from Green Hell, and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (starring Mamie Van Doren).
• Elvira appeared as a guest on an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
• In 1984, Peterson appeared as Elvira in an episode of the TV action/adventure series The Fall Guy starring Lee Majors. The episode is entitled "October the 31st" (also the original airdate), and features John Carradine, his son David, and Doug McClure. A brief promo for this episode was included in the Movie Jo Night presentation of Moon of the Wolf. Elvira and McClure reprised their roles in another episode the following October.

  

  Elvira on Movie Jo Night

• Frank Conniff made a passing reference to Elvira during the Cinematic Titanic presentation of Blood of the Vampires. She was also referred to during one of the riffs made during the opening credits sequence of the RiffTrax of Fangs of the Living Dead.
• Some episodes of Movie Macabre from the 1980s and the 2010 relaunch are available to stream for free at shoutfactorytv.com, which also offers a large selection of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. The free online streaming service tubitv.com offers the same selection of Movie Macabre episodes, as well as all episodes of 13 Nights of Elvira and a large selection of MST3K and RiffTrax. The streaming service Pluto TV hosts both of Elvira's feature films, as well as the 13 Nights of Elvira episodes and some Movie Macabre.