There are some movies that are just bad. Then there are some that are so bad, they’re actually quite good. Then there are those films that, to paraphrase a character from the film Ghost World, are so bad they’ve gone all the way past good and back to bad again. Elvira’s Haunted Hills is so bad it almost rounds the corner from campy masterpiece back into purely awful. Yet what else does one expect from Elvira, Mistress of the Dark? This is the long-delayed sequel to the first Elvira motion picture, which was released in 1988.
Thirteen years later, this film came along, financed by Elvira herself, Cassandra Peterson, when no one else was willing to take a chance on it. If you’re an Elvira fanatic (and there are many), then you’ll love this crass and culty romp. Peterson has a talent for physical comedy and great timing on her nonstop double entendres. Her cleavage deserves a supporting credit itself, and she has no shame when it comes to showing them off.
The film takes place in 1851 Carpathia, and yet Elvira’s Valley Girl mannerisms and sky-high black beehive are as prominent as ever. The bizarre juxtaposition between her character and the others in the film, who suit the time period much more in both speech and dress, is one of the most entertaining things about Elvira’s Haunted Hills. Also great is Richard O’Brien, best known as Riff-Raff in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, brings his unrivalled creepiness to the role of Lord Hellsubus, a sinister castle-dweller whose dead wife bears an eerie resemblance to Elvira. The rest of the supporting cast is game and trying their best, which is all that you can ask from this kind of sub-B movie.
The production value is somewhere around a Monty Python picture; if only the humor were quite on par with those classics, too. Then again, Elvira’s Haunted Hills is not designed to be a classic. It is meant for midnight Halloween viewings, possibly while inebriated. For that purpose, it is ideal.
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES
There are a couple of featurettes which are mildly entertaining, mostly for the interesting tidbits about the Hammer horror films that influenced Elvira and are being sent up with love and affection here. There are also outtakes, an interview with Richard O’Brien, and audio commentary by director Sam Irvin, Peterson, and most of the supporting cast (Elvira’s cleavage not included).
"Elvira's Haunted Hills" is on sale October 4, 2011 and is rated PG13. Comedy, Horror. Directed by Sam Irvin. Written by Cassandra Peterson, John Paragon. Starring Cassandra Peterson, Mary Scheer, Richard Obrien.
