{"id":30002,"date":"2024-11-12T00:55:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T08:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30002"},"modified":"2024-11-12T00:55:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T08:55:59","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30002","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1988)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow\nVideo is now available.<\/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\ncountless number of hosts who also appeared during these broadcasts and\nintroduced the various B-movie titles as they played across your screen. One of\nthe most famous was Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (aka Cassandra Peterson) a\npersonality who appeared on Los Angeles area stations before landing a deal\nwith NBC and becoming a worldwide phenomenon. Decked out in a black gown and displaying\na fair amount of, well, cleavage, she made an indelible impression by\nincorporating humor and wit into her bits, often wisecracking about the movies\non display.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she became more popular, the actress began working on\nfilm and television projects based around developing the popular character.\nWith the backing of NBC Productions, it culminated in Elvira: Mistress of\nthe Dark<\/em>, a feature film co-produced by the broadcaster and New World\nPictures. While there was great hope that the project would expand into a\nseries of movies, a TV-show and other media properties, it didn\u2019t make a big\nimpact at the box office and was not well received by critics. Still, over time\nthis flick has developed a sizable following. Arrow Video released a Blu-ray in\n2020 with loads of extras. Now, everything has been ported over in 4K Ultra HD\nedition. As before, the movie picture and sound has been upgraded, and the\nrelease contains all the same illuminating background information explaining\nhow it all came together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 sell. Unfortunately,\nthe town is run by an extremely conservative town council, led by Chastity\nPariah (Edie McClurg), who wants to run Elvira out of town. Despite the\nterrible behavior of locals, the hostess finds a few friends in local\nmovie-theater owner Bob (Daniel Greene) and the town\u2019s teenage population. The\nprotagonist also discovers that Morgana dabbled in witchcraft and that her\nrecent death may not have been an accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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 the movie itself is generally sweet-natured as it\npokes fun at conservative morals and prudishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ntrouble just for the sake of a gag. Still, Peterson\u2019s Elvira is an extremely\ncharismatic personality who possesses exceptional comic timing. She delivers\nsome very amusing speeches, along with some amusing observations. Elvira also\ngets to take part in a couple of amusing physical comedy moments. One bit,\ninvolving councilmember Pariah misinterpreting a local movie-marquee sign, may\nbe the highlight and earns a huge laugh. The conservative townspeople also take\npart in a couple of entertaining scenes, including a town picnic that ends in\ndebauchery. This reviewer also enjoyed a comment at the end of the film from\nElvira\u2019s romantic rival, Patty (Susan Kellermann), who begrudgingly apologizes\nto the heroine for attempting to literally burn her at the stake earlier in the\nfeature.<\/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\nElvira role and found the ideal balance between humor and horror. Elvira should\nhave been an even bigger star during the 80s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is an old, relatively low-budget feature that has never\nbeen reference quality material. The recent Blu-ray of the film from 2020 was\ndecent, presenting the film with a cleaner and sharper image. This \u201cLimited\nEdition\u201d 4K Ultra HD disc features a brand new restoration. Of course, there is\nonly so much that one can do with the source material, and there is plenty of\nfilm grain visible. Curiously enough, it is very noticeable during the opening\nTV studio bits and town council meetings set during the daytime. But there are\nsome improvements on this version. The picnic scene does look sharp and clean\nand the final act, featuring an attempted burning at the stake and a final\nbattle between Elvira and the villain, is noticeably better than in previous\nversions. The final musical number also looks great. Overall, it\u2019s a bit of a\nmixed bag and you have to be ready for plenty of grain, but there are some\nscenes that are definite improvements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, this release also comes with superb extras.\nThere\u2019s a lengthy and impressive 2018 documentary on the movie. You\u2019ll find out\nhow the movie project actually came together at NBC. Director James Signorelli\n(Easy Money<\/em>) also delivers a humorous introduction. At least, that\u2019s\nwhat it\u2019s supposed 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 a track with star\/co-writer Cassandra Peterson, co-writer John Paragon and\ncast 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\ndiscusses her work with comedy troupe The Groundlings<\/em> and points out\nmany of the group members who make cameos in the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While they all suggest they had a great time making the\nmovie and enjoyed everyone\u2019s company onset, the group reveal some of the more\ndifficult shooting elements, including the climax, which involved rain, fire,\nfog-machines spewing carbon gasses that made breathing difficult. In general,\nPeterson has great stories to tell, even at one point detailing her brief\nrelationship with Elvis Presley (at one point in the film, she wears a shirt\nwith the performer on it). Peterson discusses the fact that the teenagers were\nadded to the story because NBC insisted on the feature appealing to a wider\ndemographic. She also shares info that Brad Pitt auditioned for the role of one\nof the teens in the movie\u2026 and says that despite his talent, they couldn\u2019t cast\nhim because he was too good-looking. It\u2019s a very entertaining discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s another commentary involving Fangoria<\/em> editor\nTony Timpone and director Signorelli. The filmmaker doesn\u2019t talk a whole lot\nearly on, with Timpone providing plenty of trivia and background information.\nHowever, the director eventually starts sharing and provides astute insight\ninto why the movie wasn\u2019t a success. While he\u2019s proud of the work, he states\nthat they weren\u2019t given the proper budget (New World was having financial\nproblems at the time and went under shortly after). Signorelli believes that\nadding in so many extra characters at the behest of executives also hurt the\nmovie. He notes that the main supernatural plot doesn\u2019t really take hold until\nthe movie\u2019s final third and that the pacing isn\u2019t ideal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It actually seems to this reviewer like the movie was\nplaying it a bit too safe, and would have benefitted from edgier material and a\nplot featuring Elvira dealing with both a prudish town and monsters more in\nkeeping with the B-movies she used to parody. Still, while it may not be the\ngreatest horror\/comedy ever made, the feature does benefit from a wonderful\nlead and provides genre fans with a few chuckles along the way. The disc itself\nis 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\nof the featured character, Arrow Video\u2019s new 4K Ultra HD \u201cLimited Edition\u201d of Elvira:\nMistress of the Dark<\/em> may be worth your attention. It isn\u2019t perfect\nimage-wise, but<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video is now available. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":20400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[121,300,1836,2923,2936,3977,4660,6879,6880,6881,7517,9319,12427,14628],"class_list":["post-30002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-121","tag-4k-ultra-hd","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past","tag-blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-cassandra-peterson","tag-comedy","tag-elvira-4k-review","tag-elvira-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-elvira-mistress-of-the-dark","tag-film","tag-horror","tag-limited-edition","tag-nbc"],"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\/30002","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=30002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}