For the penultimate entry in this marathon of a Nightmare Fuel, we’re gonna delve into the behind-the-scenes documentary Too Macabre: The Making of Elvira Mistress of the Dark.
Although Svengoolie is my local horror host, Cassandra Peterson’s Elvira is the one that’s always stuck with me as my favorite. Sure, as a burgeoning teenage boy, she had some obvious assets (*cough*) to lure my eye, but her delightfully cheesy and pun-spinning personality kept me watching. I can still remember the day in high school when I found out there was an Elvira movie: I didn’t quite know what to expect from it, given that Elvira never really had that much of a storyline going on around her as a character, but my hopes remained high.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark finds the titular (pun partially intended, I think she’d prefer it that way) movie maven quitting her job to start up a show in Vegas, only to realize she’s short the funds. Luckily, she finds out she’s just inherited a big house from a distant relative and heads off to small-town Massachusetts to claim and sell the property. The folks there don’t take too kindly to the relatively libertine Elvira, so she’s gotta deal with the parents of the teens who take a shine to her and a warlock uncle bent on world domination. Naturally. What else would an Elvira film be about? It’s a fun little movie, nothing all that outstanding, but there’s plenty of Elvira shenanigans, so that’s definitely a win in my book.
Too Macabre takes us to the origins and rise of Elvira as a character and then tackles the production of Mistress of the Dark itself. As one would expect, we get plenty of insightful and illuminating interviews that not only provide a chronicle of the making of this particular movie, but also some idea of what it’s like to get a film greenlit and actually made in Hollywood. Not only does Ms. Peterson herself get the requisite bulk of the screentime, but we also here from long-time friend and collaborator John Paragon, who helped pen the script to Mistress of the Dark, and you definitely get a sense of their friendship and creative partnership. (You kids will likely know Paragon better as the spoiled son of the network honcho in Weird Al’s UHF and as Pterri and Jambi on Pee Wee’s Playhouse. Plus he directed Twin Sitters! Look it up, it’s wild and possibly the most ’90s thing to ever happen to this planet.)
Too Macabre is occasionally a little too breezy with its pacing, sticking to some ideas much longer than one would possibly prefer, but overall it’s a fun little jaunt down memory lane, and there are plenty of entertaining and informative anecdotes to please any Elvira fan. Good times.
Allusions of Grandeur 