{"id":20909,"date":"2020-07-26T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T22:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=20909"},"modified":"2020-07-26T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T22:59:08","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=20909","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1988)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray is currently available from Arrow\nVideo (www.arrowvideo.com<\/a> \u2013 <\/strong>www.facebook.com\/ArrowVideo\/<\/strong><\/a>).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you spent any time in your childhood watching horror\nmovies on late night television, then you\u2019ll no doubt be familiar with a countless\nnumber of hosts who also appeared during these broadcasts and introduced the various\nB-movie titles as they played across your screen. One of the most famous was Elvira,\nMistress of the Dark (aka Cassandra Peterson) a personality who appeared on Los\nAngeles area stations before landing a deal with NBC and becoming a worldwide\nphenomenon. Decked out in a black gown and displaying a fair amount of, well,\ncleavage, she made an indelible impression by incorporating humor and wit into her\nbits, often wisecracking about the movies on display.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she became more popular, the actress began working on film\nand television projects based around developing the popular character. With the\nbacking of NBC Productions, it culminated in Elvira: Mistress of the Dark<\/em>,\na feature film coproduced by the broadcaster and New World Pictures. While\nthere was great hope that the project would expand into a series of movies, a\nTV-show and other media properties, it didn\u2019t make a big impact at the box\noffice and was not well received by critics. Still, over time this flick has\ndeveloped a sizable following. Now Arrow Video have delivered an elaborate,\nextras-packed Blu-ray upgrading the movie picture and sound, as well as providing\nilluminating background information into how it all came together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It all begins when TV host Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) quits\nher job after being propositioned by the new station president. Despite dreams\nof creating and starring in a horror-themed Las Vegas stage show, she knows\nthat she\u2019ll never be able to get it off the ground without financing. Suddenly,\nElvira receives a telegram informing her that her great aunt Morgana has passed\naway. The ex-hostess heads out to Massachusetts for the will-reading and\ninherits a run-down home, which she decides to fix up and try to sell. Unfortunately,\nthe town is run by an extremely conservative town council, led by Chastity Pariah\n(Edie McClurg), who want to run Elvira out of town. Despite the terrible behavior\nof locals, the hostess finds a few friends in local movie-theater owner Bob (Daniel\nGreene) and the town\u2019s teenage population. The protagonist also discovers that Morgana\ndabbled in witchcraft and that her recent death may not have been an accident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure who keeps tally of these sorts of things, but I\nimagine that Elvira: Mistress of the Dark<\/em> may very well have the highest\nratio of breast-related jokes ever committed to a comedy feature. There appear\nto be one or two gags involving heaving bosoms in just about every scene. I\u2019m\nnot sure that this would necessarily be a record to be proud of, but at least\nthe star is charismatic and movie itself is generally sweet-natured as it pokes\nfun at conservative morals and prudishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s all pretty silly, schlocky stuff, but that makes sense\ngiven that the character (and presumably the audience) would be fans of cheesy\nold monster movies. It often looks like the leads are getting themselves into trouble\njust for the sake of a gag. Still, Peterson\u2019s Elvira is an extremely charismatic\npersonality who possesses exceptional comic timing. She delivers some very\namusing speeches, along with some amusing observations. Elvira also gets to\ntake part in a couple of amusing physical comedy. One bit, involving councilmember\nPariah misinterpreting a local movie-marquee sign, may be the highlight and earns\na huge laugh. The conservative townspeople also take part in a couple of entertaining\nscenes, including a town picnic that ends in debauchery. This reviewer also enjoyed\na comment at the end of the film from Elvira\u2019s romantic rival, Patty (Susan Kellermann),\nwho begrudgingly apologies to the heroine for attempting to literally burn her\nat the stake earlier in the feature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Truthfully, it\u2019s sweeter than it is saucy and at times feels\na bit like a TV-movie (albeit with a barrage of jokes about breasts continually\nthrown in). There are also too many characters in the film and few are given\nthe opportunity to stand out. Still, one cannot help but feel that had the\nmovie been successful, further adventures could have really developed the Elvira\nrole and found the ideal balance between humor and horror. Elvira should have\nbeen an even bigger star during the 80s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Blu-ray presents the film with a very clean and sharp\nimage. Remarkably, the movie has been given a new 4K scan from the original elements,\nwhich means that it looks better than it did when it was playing up on the big\nscreen. I haven\u2019t seen the film since its DVD debut decades ago and it looks vastly\nimproved with colors that really pop. This disc also comes with some superb\nextras. There\u2019s a lengthy documentary on the movie that was produced for an\nearlier release, but has been updated and revised with new interviews from the\ncast and crew and some never-before-seen material. You\u2019ll find out how the movie\nproject actually came together at NBC. Director James Signorelli (Easy Money<\/em>)\nalso delivers a newly shot and humorous introduction. At least, that\u2019s what it\u2019s\nsupposed to be, only he can\u2019t seem to deliver his lines properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three commentary tracks on the disc too. The first\nis an archived track with star\/co-writer Cassandra Peterson, co-writer John\nParagon and cast member Edie McClurg. It\u2019s very jovial and the participants are\nstraight-forward and honest, talking a great deal about the many problems they\nencountered. She mentions having to corner executive producer Brandon Tartikoff\nand get him to pony up funds to shoot the Vegas-set ending. Peterson also discusses\nher work with comedy troupe The Groundlings and points out many of the group\nmembers who make cameos in the movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While they all suggest they had a great time making the movie\nand enjoyed everyone\u2019s company onset, the group reveal some of the more difficult\nshooting elements, including the climax, which involved rain, fire, fog-machines\nspewing carbon gasses that made breathing difficult. In general, Peterson has\ngreat stories to tell, even at one point detailing her brief relationship with Elvis\nPresley (at one point in the film, she wears a shirt with the performer on it).\nPeterson discusses the fact that the teenagers were added to the story because\nNBC insisted on the feature appealing to a wider demographic. She also shares\ninfo that Brad Pitt auditioned for the role one of the teens in the movie\u2026 and\nsays that despite his talent, they couldn\u2019t cast him because he was too\ngood-looking. It\u2019s a very entertaining discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s also a newly recorded commentary involving Fangoria\neditor Tony Timpone and director Signorelli. The filmmaker doesn\u2019t talk a whole\nlot early on, with Timpone providing plenty of trivia and background information.\nHowever, the director eventually starts sharing and provides astute insight into\nwhy the movie wasn\u2019t a success. While he\u2019s proud of the work, he states that\nthey weren\u2019t given the proper budget (New World was having financial problems\nat the time and went under shortly after). Signorelli believes that adding in\nso many extra characters at the behest of executives also hurt the movie. He\nnotes that the main supernatural plot doesn\u2019t really take hold until the movie\u2019s\nfinal third and that the pacing isn\u2019t ideal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s also a new track featuring the webmaster of an Elvira\nsite, who also provides some bonus trivia. In addition, the Blu-ray comes with\nloads of publicity materials, including trailers, extensive image galleries and\nstoryboards of several sequences. It all makes for an entertaining array of extras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It actually seems to this reviewer like the movie was playing it a bit too safe, and would have benefitted from edgier material and a plot featuring Elvira dealing with both a prudish town and monsters more in keeping with the B-movies she used to parody. Still, while it may not have been the greatest horror\/comedy ever made, the feature does benefits from a wonderful lead and provides genre fans with a few chuckles along the way. The disc itself is filled to the brim with extras that are pleasing and fun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a fondness for 80s horror\/comedies or are a fan of the featured character, Arrow Video\u2019s new edition of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark<\/em> is certainly worth your attention.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Blu-ray is currently available from Arrow Video (www.arrowvideo.com \u2013 www.facebook.com\/ArrowVideo\/). If you spent any time in your childhood watching horror movies on late night television, then you\u2019ll no doubt be familiar with a countless number of hosts who also appeared during these broadcasts and introduced the various B-movie titles as they played across your screen. One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[121,2124,2923,2928,3067,3073,3977,4660,5141,6727,6878,6881,6882,6883,9319,10256,14202,19380],"class_list":["post-20909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-121","tag-b-movie","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blu-ray","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-cassandra-peterson","tag-comedy","tag-daniel-greene","tag-edie-mcclurg","tag-elvira","tag-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark","tag-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark-blu-ray-review","tag-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark-review","tag-horror","tag-james-signorelli","tag-monsters","tag-supernatural"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}