In the age of more digital representations of horror movie hosting, with much stricter rights on older movies arising, sometimes it’s easy to forget the movie hosts that stayed up to watch the movie with us. In that age of TV, there was rarely reproduction issues with making fun of movies. The movie would show once, live, with no rereleases, DVDs or video tapes. In the age of video tapes however, one horror host arose that didn’t need these to get audience attention. She had dirty jokes and sex appeal, something that would ultimately make her character and their jokes more widely known than the actor herself.
Elvira, or Cassandra Peterson, started out in 1981 as a local L.A. horror movie host, shooting to fame in two weeks’ time. Not only hosting her regular movie macabre, but also guest starring on talk shows, sitcoms, and specials everywhere, she was no longer strictly a “local” star. She was also a movie star.
In 1988, Elvira starred in her own feature film, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, in which she inherits a mansion in a small, conservative town where everybody hates her. As an ‘80s comedy, it flourished. As ridiculous a movie as it was though, it wasn’t the last Elvira feature. In 2001, she starred in her own B-horror movie straight out of the 1800s.
Elvira’s Haunted Hills takes Elvira to the streets of 1851 Romania as she and her maidservant are running to Paris for a show after escaping an inn without paying. On the road they get picked up by a mysterious carriage in which an even stranger Dr. Bradley (Scott Atkinson) agrees to take them to Paris if they agree to spend the night at the Castle Hellsubus, where he was headed to visit the master of the house. The master, Lord Vladimere Hellsubus, portrayed by Rocky Horror writer and star Richard O’Brien, is the classic trope of the gothic vampire without the nasty undead aspect. Instead, in addition to his slight aversion to the sun due to cataract issues, his family is cursed with a genetic disorder making them sensitive to sound.
In the fashion of all terrible gothic horror movies, Elvira looks just like a member of the family who has passed away. On a night, just like tonight, Lady Elura Hellsbus died of mysterious causes, the castle’s settling noises creating a constant reminder of this event. As things at the castle become even more worrisome, Elvira makes plans to leave for Paris with the caretaker. Using the small amount of schizophrenic brain he has left, the Lord plans to stop whom he believes to be the wife he stopped once before.
Haunted Hills is the perfect blend of ‘90s comedy and terrible ‘60s B-horror movie. If looking for a horror comedy with just a bit of raunch, I recommend hunting it down. While some searches show that it previously existed in many digital retailers and services, the only medium I could actually find it was a VHS tape from a library I didn’t realize had any tapes left. Otherwise, have fun watching and guess the twist ending.