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Elvira's Haunted Hills

Elvira's Haunted Hills

List Price: $9.95
Your Price: $9.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvira's done it again!
Review: "Elvira's Haunted Hills" is a knowingly cheesy, hilarious comedy starring that wacky Mistress of the Dark. Not only is this movie better than the first, but it also features another show-stopping musical number and wacky supporting characters. The scenes toward the end of the film get a bit darker in tone than the rest of the movie (especially when characters begin getting killed off and we begin learning "family secrets"), but this odd mix of comedy and horror works surprisingly well. Highly Recommended!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Still scaring up laughs.
Review: After a long (13 years) absence since her first motion picture (1988's Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) the wise cracking horror hostess is back. Now it's the mid 19th Century, the setting Transylvania, the star none other than Elvira. While en route to Paris, to star in "Yes, I Can Can," Elvira and her robust French maid Zou Zou find themselves in creepy mysterious castle Helsebus.

A foolish choice to hitch a ride on a stage coach lands them in Weird Central, where the family is cursed, the Master of the House (played by Rocky Horror's Richard O'Brien) is a lunatic, and Elvira apparently bears a striking (like a frying pan across the head) resemblance to the House's late lady, Elura who was said to have committed suicide exactly ten years to the day. However one is lead to believe foul play was involved, that one happens to be Elvira.

Can Elvira survive this creepy castle and its inhabitants for two full days and nights? Will she escape and make it to Paris? Or will she suffer the same fate of Elura Helsebus?

---

This movie pays fiendishly fun homage to the old Corman/Poe, Vincent Price flicks of the 1950's. Complete with dramatic sets, secret passages, curses, wall entombment and even a pit complete with full swinging (and actually dangerous just ask Elvira) pendulum.

While Elvira fans will find this gothic romp a hilarious hay ride, non Elvira fans are sure to find something to enjoy. Besides Elvira's gravity defying pair this movie actually proves to hold up against today's market of CGI laden movies, with Hollywood big names and multi million dollar budgets.

All said and done, Elvira's Haunted Hills are definitely worth surveying. Mr. Price would be proud.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Latest Elvira movie a "big bust"
Review: After watching the first Elvira movie "Mistress of the Dark" which I loved, I could not wait for this one to come out. Well it turns out I could have waited a loooong time for this one.

The story was simply not funny and Cassandra Petersons Elvira was a pale shadow of her early days, almost fading into the background in this movie in favor of a supporting cast that was not much better.

The sassy, bold, wise cracking, smart mouthed, over the top, Elvira of the first movie, is almost completely missing here. Instead, she seems subdued and timid (compared to her first movie). Missing from this movie are the wisecracks, putdowns and puns, that made Elvira such a joy to watch (there are a few lame ones ).

In this movie they tried to let the scenery and erie atmosphere (which are great by the way) and supporting cast(so, so),carry the movie rather than letting Elvira do it by herself.

I think that Cassandra Peterson(Elvira) who co-wrote this movie simply put too much importance on trying to make a "gothic movie pariody", and not enough of giving the fans what the wanted to see, which was Elvira.

I don't think that the fans will see another Elvira movie made, and it's sad that such a great character bows out with this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mounds of Fun
Review: Elivra's Haunted Hills (2001)

Version Reviewed: Good Times DVD, 2002, 89 minutes

My personal enjoyment rating: 8

My recommendation rating: 8 out of 10. Explanation of recommendation rating: "All genre fans should see this film. Others should consider giving it a chance, as they will probably like it or find it interesting. More casual film fans might be indifferent towards it."

For many people, they'll be able to judge fairly easily if they're likely to enjoy _Elvira's Haunted Hills_--the film, that is; of course most men would enjoy Elvira's haunted hills, but that wasn't the point. If you're at all familiar with Elvira--her determinedly retro horror persona, her creature-feature-host, rubber-chicken humor that just cries out for rimshots--then you'll have a good idea whether you're in the market for this film, which is a wonderful, loving spoof of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price films (plus plenty of Universal and Hammer references) that even gets a bit suspenseful and atmospheric itself at times.

In the world of this particular film, Elvira (played, as always, by Cassandra Peterson) is a singer and dancer, on her way to star in a burlesque show in Paris called _Yes I Can-Can_. As an entertainer, she's running a bit short on funds, and when her uncooperative landlord kicks her and her maid-servant out of their room, they end up accepting a ride in a spooky carriage in the worst geographic location to do such a thing--the Carpathian Mountains. Of course this leads to trouble, as Elvira and her maidservant functionally end up captives in the Usher-house-like Hellsibus Castle. The Hellsibus family is quirky, as one would expect, and they're suffering from a strange curse--their senses are so acute that the simple sound of heels on a stone floor can be torment.

For someone open to mixing horror and comedy, but unfamiliar with Elvira, the first reel of the film can be uncomfortable, as it takes awhile to become acclimated to her humor, which ranges from pleasantly stupid and silly to rimshot vaudevillian to cleverly punny and even slapstick. However, once Elvira arrives at Hellsibus Castle, the film settles into a great rhythm that is reminiscent of _Young Frankenstein_, a comparison that was invoked intentionally, as Peterson notes in an interview included on the disc.

Of course the humor continues throughout the film, but like _Young Frankenstein_, that's not all that _Elvira's Haunted Hills_ have going for them, er, uh, it. Director Sam Irvin shoots the film as if it's dead serious, and thanks to that, plus a number of beautiful, lavish sets, a good script, and good performances, _Elvira's Haunted Hills_ works as a modernization of its influences as well. For example, the scenes in Lord Hellsibus' deceased wife's room are eerie, the cemetery scene when Elvira is pursuing Lord Hellsibus has that unusual Hammer-esque daytime gloom, the scenes in the main hall and dining room of the castle have a grand gothic feel, and the ending, in a _The Pit and The Pendulum_-styled dungeon, is suspenseful.

That these qualities, which usually require deadpan seriousness, come across so well in a film that just as often resembles snippets of a flick like _Airplane_ , and that features a goofy song and dance number that finishes with Elivra sticking her bum in the air to show undies that say "Applause", is remarkable. Even the masters of such a mixing of genres, Leslie Nielsen and Mel Brooks, can't always execute the trick so well--_Elvira's Haunted Hills_ outshines the collaboration between those two in _Dracula: Dead and Loving It_.

My wife's rating: "7 out of 10. Enjoyable, funny horror-comedy. Ridiculous that something like this basically goes straight to video while other films, of much inferior quality, are released in the multiplexes. What are the distributors thinking? This film would definitely make money if released in mainstream theaters."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvira strikes back
Review: Elvira is back in this comedy film, the dvd is extras are good and the movie is fantastic i realy liked it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elviras back!!!
Review: Elvira is back! After such a long time away, she returns to the big screen in a hilarious spoof of the old Corman/Vincent Price films of the 60's. Great setting, and hilarious storyline. This has become a favourite of mine. Would recommend it to everyone in the mood for a good laugh.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Definitely one of the cheesiest movies around
Review: Elvira shines just like she did in the previous movie. Visually, the film is stunning. First-rate lighting & sets. The plot is a bit thin (much like the b-movies she reviews). Elvira's red & white striped stockings do look a bit weird, but she's never been known for subtlety. The carriage scene (fellow actor getting a VERY close look at her cleavage) is also cute. Given, the "twin" concept has been done & redone over time, but it still works so I can't complain. Basically, if you liked the first movie you'll like this one -- if only because Cassandra Peterson carries the movie on sheer carisma.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvira is BACK!....finally!!!
Review: ELVIRA'S HAUNTED HILLS is the Mistress of the Dark's long-awaited followup to her beloved first time, 1988's ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK. It has been well worth the wait, believe me!

In this loving parody of the Hammer and AIP gothic-horror films of the 60's, Elvira plays a busty entertainer circa 1851, who gets caught up in a tangle with the mysterious residents of the Castle Hellsubus. Vladimere Hellsubus (Richard O'Brien - THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW) takes a shying to Elvira when he discovers that she looks exactly like his dead wife Elura, who died under mysterious circumstances.

Together with her robust maid ZouZou (Mary Jo Smith), Elvira sets out to escape from Vladimere's evil house and pendulum, with her cunning tricks and her showstopping number "Le Music Hall".

Hilarious. Filmed entirely on location in Romania, the production values are lavish and Elvira looks as gorgeous as ever in the long-overdue sequel that will surely be relished by fans.

Also starring Scott Atkinson, Mary Scheer and Heather Hopper.

The DVD includes making-of featurette, trailer, Richard O'Brien interview and photo gallery. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Get's Better With Each Viewing
Review: Elvira's long awaited follow up does not dissapoint. It is a very funny parody of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price horror flicks from the 60's. It does an incredible job of paroding them and sometimes it takes a couple of times of watching to catch all the jokes. But I have watched it several times, and while it is not MISTRESS OF THE DARK, it need not be compared because it stands up very well on its own.
Elvira's Haunted Hills is very amusing and has a wonderful cast.
It is pure camp and if you are expecting anything else you will be dissapointed.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a patch on the first Elvira film.
Review: Elvira, a trashed-up version of Morticia Addams, who has her own TV show presenting late night B-grade horror movies and low budget gorefests. That's probably where she would still be had it not been for the moderate success of her own B-grade 'horror' film "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark" which came out at the back end of the 1980's. A sequel was inevitable but we've been kept waiting a long time - some fifteen years. Apparantly no major studio (and several minor ones) wouldn't touch it with a bargepole, so alarm bells should have been ringing right away.

But to give her credit, Elvira herself (Cassandra Peterson) put her own money into the project to get it underway. She contacted assorted friends and hangers-on to act in the film for peanuts, and went to Romania to film, not because that's where Transylvania is, but because Eastern Europe is cheap to film in. Local actors who couldn't speak a word of English were hired to make up the numbers, and "Elvira's Haunted Hills" was born.

I like Elvira and I'd hate to see her destitute on the streets, so I do hope that the film makes enough money to break even for her - it deserves that at least.


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