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 prank phone calls from a character called "the Breather" (John Paragon).
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.
Contents
History
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, plans were made to replace the show with a new program and a new host.
The producers initially turned to 1950s' horror hostess Maila Nurmi to resurrect The Vampira Show. Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana, Nurmi's pick for the role of Vampira. The station sent out a casting call, and Peterson auditioned and won the role. She and her close friend, makeup artist Robert Redding, decided to style Peterson in a sensual goth/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to dress like Sharon Tate's character in The Fearless Vampire Killers. Elvira's look drew inspiration from a Kabuki makeup book in Redding's possession and the bouffant hairstyles of The Ronettes.
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.
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.
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.
Episode list
Revivals
Midnight Madness (1990s)
In the 1990s, Rhino Home Video released Midnight Madness, a collection of films hosted by Elvira, on VHS.
Eegah
Frankenstein's Daughter
Killers from Space
The Giant Gila Monster
The Mask
She Demons
Night of the Ghouls
I Eat Your Skin
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
The Brain from Planet Arous
A Bucket of Blood
The Crawling Hand
The Wasp Woman
The Hideous Sun Demon
Missile to the Moon
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. This revival saw Elvira hosting public domain films. 26 episodes were produced; six were left unaired, but were released on both DVD and iTunes.
13 Nights of Elvira (2014)
13 Nights of Elvira was produced for Hulu by Brainstorm Media. A new episode streamed each day through Halloween. The series teamed with film distributor Full Moon Features; it provided the majority of the films chosen for the series.
Elvira's 40th Anniversary, Very Scary, Very Special Special (2021)
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.
DVD releases
Time Life
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 Little Shop of Horrors and The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Dementia 13 and Carnival of Souls
House on Haunted Hill and Night of the Living Dead
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.
The Little Shop of Horrors and The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Dementia 13 and Carnival of Souls
House on Haunted Hill and The Terror
Night of the Living Dead
Shout! Factory
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.
Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks
Count Dracula's Great Love
Legacy of Blood
The Devil's Wedding Night
The Doomsday Machine
The Werewolf of Washington
Blue Sunshine and Monstroid
Gamera: Super Monster and They Came from Beyond Space
Maneater of Hydra and The House That Screamed
Count Dracula's Great Love and Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks
Legacy of Blood and The Devil's Wedding Night
The Doomsday Machine and The Werewolf of Washington
E1 Entertainment
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.
The Satanic Rites of Dracula
I Eat Your Skin
Night of the Living Dead
The Brain That Wouldn't Die
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Beast from Haunted Cave (previously unaired)
The Terror
Hercules and the Captive Women
The Wasp Woman (previously unaired)
The Wild Women of Wongo (previously unaired)
Untamed Women
Night of the Living Dead and I Eat Your Skin
Satanic Rites of Dracula and The Werewolf of Washington
The Terror and Eegah
The Brain That Wouldn't Die and The Manster
Scared to Death and Tormented
Lady Frankenstein and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and Beast from Haunted Cave (previously unaired)
Wild Women featuring Untamed Women, The Wild Women of Wongo (previously unaired), Hercules and the Captive Women and The Wasp Woman (previously unaired)