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Elvira's Movie Macabre

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Elvira's Movie Macabre (titled on-screen as Movie Macabre with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark in its original run), or simply Movie Macabre, is an American hosted horror movie television program that originally aired locally from 1981 to 1986. The show features B movies, particularly those in the horror and science fiction genres, and is hosted by Elvira, a character with a black dress and heaven bump hairstyle, played by Cassandra Peterson. Elvira occasionally interrupts the films with comments and jokes, and in some episodes receives phone calls from a character called "the Breather" (John Paragon).

Elvira's Movie Macabre
Title card
Also known asMovie Macabre with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
GenreComedy
Horror
Science fiction
Presented byCassandra Peterson
StarringCassandra Peterson
John Paragon
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes140
Original release
NetworkKHJ-TV (1981–86)
ReleaseSeptember 26, 1981 (1981-09-26) –
November 2, 1986 (1986-11-02)

The popularity of the show led to a feature film, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, which was released in 1988. The character returned in the 2001 film Elvira's Haunted Hills. The show was revived in 2010 as Elvira's Movie Macabre, in which Elvira hosted public domain films. This revival aired on This TV until 2011. Elvira returned as a horror hostess in 2014 with 13 Nights of Elvira, a 13-episode series produced by Hulu. In 2021, she recreated her show for a one-night movie marathon on the streaming service Shudder to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary. The special was called Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special Special.

History

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Peterson dressed as Elvira at the 2006 San Francisco Gay Pride parade

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, show producers began to bring the show back.[1]

The producers decided to use a hostess. They asked 1950s' horror hostess Maila Nurmi to revive The Vampira Show. Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana to play Vampira.[2] The station sent out a casting call, and Peterson auditioned and won the role. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. She and her best friend, Robert Redding, came up with the sexy goth/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to look like Sharon Tate's character in The Fearless Vampire Killers.[3] They created the Elvira look by drawing inspiration from a Kabuki makeup book and the hairstyles of The Ronettes.[4][5]

Shortly before the first taping, producers received a cease and desist letter from Nurmi. Besides the similarities in the format and costumes, Elvira's closing line for each show, wishing her audience "Unpleasant dreams," was notably similar to Vampira's closer: "Bad dreams, darlings..." uttered as she walked off down a misty corridor. The court ruled in favor of Peterson, holding that "'likeness' means actual representation of another person's appearance, and not simply close resemblance." Peterson claimed that Elvira was nothing like Vampira aside from the basic design of the black dress and black hair. Nurmi claimed that Vampira's image was based on Morticia Addams, a character in Charles Addams's cartoons that appeared in The New Yorker magazine.[6]

Peterson's Elvira character rapidly gained notice with her tight-fitting, low-cut, cleavage-displaying black gown. Adopting the flippant tone of a California "Valley girl", she brought a satirical, sarcastic edge to her commentary. She reveled in dropping risqué double entendres and making frequent jokes about her cleavage. In an AOL Entertainment News interview, Peterson said, "I figured out that Elvira is me when I was a teenager. She's a spastic girl. I just say what I feel and people seem to enjoy it." Her camp humor, sex appeal, and good-natured self-mockery made her popular with late-night movie viewers and her popularity soared.[7]

Elvira was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and other talk shows. She also produced a long-running series of Halloween-themed television commercials for Coors Light Beer and Mug Root Beer (her trademark cleavage was concealed for the Coors campaign). She appeared in guest roles on television dramas such as CHiPs, The Fall Guy and Fantasy Island and appeared on numerous awards shows as a presenter. Although she is known primarily as Elvira, Peterson has made out-of-costume appearances as herself for television interviews and specials.

Two million pairs of $0.99 3D glasses were reportedly sold for the 22 May 1982, broadcast of The Mad Magician.[8]

In 1982, with the success of Movie Macabre, Knott's Theme Parks hired Elvira to replace Seymour as the host of its annual Halloween Haunt during October. Elvira appeared nightly at the park, live on stage with a Halloween-themed musical comedy revue similar to her Mamma's Boys act from the 1970s.

The Elvira character rapidly evolved from obscure cult figure to a lucrative brand name. She was associated with many products through the 1980s and 1990s, including Halloween costumes, comic books,[9][10] action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, model kits, calendars, perfume and dolls. She has appeared on the cover of Femme Fatales magazine five times. Her popularity reached its zenith with the release of the feature film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, on whose script, written directly for the screen, Peterson collaborated with John Paragon and Sam Egan.[11]

Episode list

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Season 1

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Episode Film shown Ep # Date
01 Grave of the Vampire 1 September 26, 1981
02 Silent Night, Bloody Night 2 October 3, 1981
03 The House That Screamed 3 October 10, 1981
04 The Fall of the House of Usher 4 October 17, 1981
05 The Dunwich Horror 5 October 25, 1981
06 Blacula 6 November 1, 1981
07 The Comedy of Terrors 7 November 7, 1981
08 The Thing with Two Heads 8 November 15, 1981
09 The Werewolf of Washington 9 November 21, 1981
10 Cry of the Banshee 10 November 29, 1981
11 Count Yorga, Vampire 11 December 5, 1981
12 Murders in the Rue Morgue 12 December 12, 1981
13 Baron Blood 13 December 27, 1981
14 Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde 14 January 3, 1982
15 The Crimson Cult 15 January 10, 1982
16 The Murder Clinic 16 January 16, 1982
17 Horror Express 17 January 23, 1982
18 The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant 18 January 30, 1982
19 Horror Hospital 19 February 6, 1982
20 Rattlers 20 February 13, 1982
21 Disciple of Death 21 February 20, 1982
22 Frankenstein 22 February 28, 1982
23 The Devil's Rain 23 March 6, 1982
24 Psychic Killer 24 March 13, 1982
25 Necromancy 25 March 20, 1982
26 The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe 26 March 27, 1982
30 The Deathmaster 30 April 1, 1982
27 Peeping Tom 27 April 3, 1982
28 Legacy of Blood 28 April 10, 1982
29 Deathdream 29 April 18, 1982
31 Beware! The Blob 31 May 1, 1982
32 Good Against Evil 32 May 8, 1982
33 The Brotherhood of Satan 33 May 15, 1982
34 The Mad Magician 34 May 22, 1982
35 The Turn of the Screw 35 May 22, 1982
36 Count Dracula's Great Love 36 May 29, 1982
37 Jennifer 37 June 12, 1982
38 Masque of the Red Death 38 June 19, 1982
39 The Tomb of Ligeia 39 June 26, 1982
40 The Incredible Melting Man 40 July 3, 1982
41 The Fearless Vampire Killers 41 July 10, 1982
42 Terror House 42 July 17, 1982
43 The Baby 43 July 24, 1982
44 The House of Seven Corpses 44 July 31, 1982
45 Psychomania 45 August 7, 1982
46 Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? 46 August 14, 1982

Season 2

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Episode Film shown Ep # Date
01 War-Gods of the Deep 47 September 4, 1982
02 The Oblong Box 48 September 11, 1982
03 The Raven 49 September 25, 1982
04 The Conqueror Worm 50 October 2, 1982
05 And Now the Screaming Starts! 51 October 9, 1982
06 Blood from the Mummy's Tomb 52 October 16, 1982
07 Madhouse 53 October 23, 1982
08 The House That Dripped Blood 54 October 30, 1982
09 Tales of Terror 55 October 30, 1982
10 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 56 November 7, 1982
11 The Day It Came to Earth 57 November 13, 1982
12 The Blood on Satan's Claw 58 November 20, 1982
13 Crucible of Horror 59 November 27, 1982
14 Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde 60 December 4, 1982
15 The Devil Within Her 61 December 12, 1982
16 The Bat People 62 December 19, 1982
17 The Return of Count Yorga 63 January 1, 1983
18 Inn of the Frightened People 64 January 8, 1983
19 Craze 65 January 29, 1983
20 The Monster Club 66 February 6, 1983
21 The Creature's Revenge 67 February 12, 1983
22 Beast of the Dead 68 February 19, 1983
23 The Island of Living Horror 69 February 27, 1983
24 The Devil's Wedding Night 70 March 5, 1983
25 The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism 71 March 12, 1983
26 Curse of the Vampires 72 March 20, 1983
27 The Vampire People 73 March 26, 1983
28 Scream and Scream Again 74 April 2, 1983
29 The Human Vapor 75 April 9, 1983
30 Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural 76 April 16, 1983
31 The Haunted Palace 77 June 18, 1983
32 The Doomsday Machine 78 August 27, 1983

Season 3

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Episode Film shown Ep # Date
01 They Came from Beyond Space 79 September 17, 1983
02 Blue Sunshine 80 October 1, 1983
03 Screamers 81 October 29, 1983
04 Willard 82 November 5, 1983
05 The Time Travelers 83 November 12, 1983
06 Maneater of Hydra 84 November 20, 1983
07 They Came From Within 85 December 11, 1983
08 Gamera: Super Monster 86 December 24, 1983
09 New Year's Evil 87 December 31, 1983
10 Homebodies 88 January 28, 1984
11 Dracula 89 February 4, 1984
12 Attack of the Killer Tomatoes 90 March 3, 1984
13 Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype 91 March 17, 1984
14 Alien Contamination 92 March 24, 1984
15 Village of the Damned 93 April 14, 1984
16 Monstroid 94 May 12, 1984
17 The Beast in the Cellar 95 May 19, 1984
18 The House of the Dead 96 May 26, 1984
19 Circus of Horrors 97 June 10, 1984
20 Pigs 98 June 17, 1984
21 Schizoid 99 June 24, 1984
22 The Godsend 100 June 30, 1984
23 Blood Bath 101 July 8, 1984
24 Kiss Daddy Goodbye 102 July 14, 1984
25 The Love War 103 July 28, 1984
26 The Human Duplicators 104 August 5, 1984
27 Mark of the Devil 105 August 11, 1984
28 So Sad About Gloria 106 August 19, 1984
29 Night of the Zombies 107 August 26, 1984

Season 4

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Episode Film shown Ep # Date
01 Inn of the Damned 108 September 1, 1984
02 Tombs of the Blind Dead 109 September 8, 1984
03 Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks 110 September 15, 1984
04 The Capture of Bigfoot 111 September 22, 1984
05 Village of the Giants 112 November 3, 1984
06 The Legend of Hell House 113 November 10, 1984
07 The Other 114 November 25, 1984
08 The Navy vs. the Night Monsters 115 December 1, 1984
09 The Last Bride of Salem 116 January 12, 1985
10 Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century 117 February 9, 1985
11 The Revenge of Frankenstein 118 March 10, 1985
12 Curse of Bigfoot 119 March 24, 1985
13 The Great Alligator 120 May 4, 1985

Season 5

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Episode Film shown Ep # Date
01 House of Dark Shadows 121 June 22, 1986
02 The Horror of Death 122 June 29, 1986
03 Kill and Go Hide 123 July 6, 1986
04 The Legend of Lizzie Borden 124 July 13, 1986
05 The Mad Butcher 125 July 20, 1986
06 The Meateater 126 July 27, 1986
07 The Mighty Gorga 127 August 3, 1986
08 Scream, Baby, Scream 128 August 10, 1986
09 Straight Jacket 129 August 17, 1986
10 They Saved Hitler's Brain 130 August 24, 1986
11 Tomb of the Living Dead 131 August 31, 1986
12 The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll 132 September 7, 1986
13 The Boy Who Cried Werewolf 133 September 14, 1986
14 Let's Scare Jessica to Death 134 September 21, 1986
15 Horror of the Zombies 135 September 28, 1986
16 House of the Long Shadows 136 October 5, 1986
17 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things 137 October 12, 1986
18 Empire of the Ants 138 October 19, 1986
19 Nightwing 139 October 26, 1986
20 Nightmare City 140 November 2, 1986

Revivals

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Midnight Madness (1990s)

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In the 1990s, Rhino Home Video released Midnight Madness, a collection of films hosted by Elvira, on VHS.[12]

Elvira's Movie Macabre (2010–11)

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The logo used for Elvira's Movie Macabre (2010–11)

In September 2010, Elvira's Movie Macabre returned to television syndication in the United States, airing on This TV.[13] This revival saw Elvira hosting public domain films. 26 episodes were produced; six were left unaired, but were released on both DVD and iTunes.

s#e# Film shown ep Week of
s1e01 Night of the Living Dead 1 September 20, 2010
s1e02 The Terror 2 September 27, 2010
s1e03 The Giant Gila Monster 3 October 4, 2010
s1e04 The Brain That Wouldn't Die 4 October 11, 2010
s1e05 The Satanic Rites of Dracula 5 October 18, 2010
s1e06 Scared to Death 6 October 25, 2010
s1e07 The Werewolf of Washington 7 November 1, 2010
s1e08 Eegah 8 November 8, 2010
s1e09 Teenagers from Outer Space 9 November 15, 2010
s1e10 Santa Claus Conquers the Martians 10 December 20, 2010
s1e11 I Eat Your Skin 11 January 17, 2011
s1e12 Don't Look in the Basement 12 January 24, 2011
s1e13 Untamed Women 13 January 31, 2011
s1e14 Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter 14 February 7, 2011
s1e15 Lady Frankenstein 15 February 14, 2011
s1e16 The Manster 16 February 21, 2011
s1e17 Tormented 17 April 25, 2011
s1e18 Manos: The Hands of Fate 18 May 2, 2011
s1e19 Hercules and the Captive Women 19 May 9, 2011
s1e20 A Bucket of Blood 20 May 16, 2011
s1e21 Attack of the Giant Leeches 21 unaired
s1e22 Beast from Haunted Cave 22 unaired
s1e23 Monster from a Prehistoric Planet 23 unaired
s1e24 The Killer Shrews 24 unaired
s1e25 The Wasp Woman 25 unaired
s1e26 The Wild Women of Wongo 26 unaired

13 Nights of Elvira (2014)

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13 Nights of Elvira was produced for Hulu by Brainstorm Media. A new episode streamed each day through Halloween.[14] The series teamed with film distributor Full Moon Features; it provided the majority of the films chosen for the series.

Episode Film shown Date
01 Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death October 19, 2014
02 Puppet Master October 20, 2014
03 Demonic Toys October 21, 2014
04 Hobgoblins October 22, 2014
05 The Gingerdead Man October 23, 2014
06 Dollman October 24, 2014
07 Trancers October 25, 2014
08 Oblivion October 26, 2014
09 Shrunken Heads October 27, 2014
10 Hideous! October 28, 2014
11 Evil Bong October 29, 2014
12 Seedpeople October 30, 2014
13 Night of the Living Dead October 31, 2014

Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special Special (2021)

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To celebrate the original show's 40th anniversary, Cassandra Peterson revived her role for a special one-night movie marathon, which premiered live on Shudder, the horror streaming service. The special came out on September 25, 2021, the same week as her memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira.[15]

Film shown Year made
01 Elvira: Mistress of the Dark 1988
02 House on Haunted Hill 1959
03 The City of the Dead 1960
04 Messiah of Evil 1973

DVD releases

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Time Life

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In 2004, Time Life released a series of special Elvira DVDs titled Elvira's Horror Classics, which was done in a similar fashion to Movie Macabre. There were seven films total in the series. There was a 3-DVD box set for six of the seven films titled Elvira's Box of Horrors. This box set consists of three double feature DVDs. The films featured were all in the public domain. They included:

The films were also released on four stand-alone DVDs. Three of the four DVDs were double features under the Elvira's Horror Classics title. Night Of The Living Dead was a single feature DVD without the Elvira's Horror Classics title branding on the DVD case art. It was titled as Night of the Living Dead "Hosted by Elvira". The disc itself does have the Elvira's Horror Classics branding on it.

Shout! Factory

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Shout! Factory has released a small number of Movie Macabre episodes to DVD, in both single and double feature format. The DVDs allow the material to be shown either complete with Elvira's interruptions or uninterrupted. Unlike the original broadcasts, the films are complete and uncensored.[16]

Single DVDs

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Double feature DVDs

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E1 Entertainment

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Following the revival of Elvira's Movie Macabre in 2011, E1 Entertainment began releasing episodes of the new series on DVD. Unlike the Shout! Factory editions, these films were released in their edited format as aired in syndication.

Single DVDs

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Double feature DVDs

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Quadruple feature sets

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Boone, Brian (October 23, 2018). "What Elvira, Mistress of the Dark Looks Like Today". Nicki Swift. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  2. ^ Wax, Alyse (December 11, 2019). "This Day in Horror: Happy Birthday Maila Nurmi aka Vampira". Dread Central. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  3. ^ Pierce-Bohen, Kayleena (June 2, 2020). "Elvira's Movie Macabre: 10 Things Fans Never Knew About The Horror Show". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  4. ^ Stardust, Lisa. "Cassandra Peterson on Elvira's Legacy, Goth Glam, and Feminine Power". InStyle.
  5. ^ Peterson, Cassandra (24 September 2021). "How the Iconic Late-Night TV Character of Elvira Came to Be". Literary Hub.
  6. ^ "Nurmi v. Peterson". Vampira: The Movie. March 25, 2007. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  7. ^ "About Cassandra Peterson". MovieWeb. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  8. ^ #4784 May 25, 1982 Suzanne Pleshette, Argus Hamilton, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston List of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson episodes (1982)
  9. ^ Elvira's House of Mystery DC Comics (11 issues) at the Grand Comics Database
  10. ^ Elvira, Mistress of the Dark Claypool Comics (166 issues) at the Grand Comics Database
  11. ^ Pierce-Steinmetz, Johanna (September 30, 1988). "'Elvira' True to Star's Deadpan Humor Trademark". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
  12. ^ "'MST3K' Arms Rhino Home Video". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 17. April 27, 1996. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  13. ^ Coplan, Chris (September 30, 2010). "Check Out: The Jack White-produced Theme for Elvira's Movie Macabre". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  14. ^ Turek, Ryan (October 2, 2014). "Elvira Heads to Hulu for All-New Series". Shock Till You Drop. Archived from the original on October 5, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  15. ^ Yates, Jonny (September 23, 2010). "Newly-out Queer Icon Elvira celebrates 40th Anniversary with 'Very Special' Event". PinkNews. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  16. ^ Klippert, Thor (November 8, 2007). "DVD Review: Elvira's Movie Macabre Double Features". CHUD.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
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