Elvira's Movie Macabre

Elvira's Movie Macabre (or sometimes simply Movie Macabre) is an American comedy television show that airs B-grade horror movies, occasionally interrupted by comments from the hostess, Elvira (played by Cassandra Peterson). In some episodes during intermission, Elvira would get an unexpected phone call from a character called "The Breather" (played by John Paragon) who would only call and tell Elvira weird jokes. The title shown here is the title under which the film was shown on the show; many B-grade horror films were rereleased with different titles.

Origins

Peterson dressed as Elvira at the 2006 San Francisco Gay Pride parade

In the late spring of 1981, six years after the death of Larry Vincent (who starred as host Sinister Seymour of a local Los Angeles weekend horror show called Fright Night), show producers began the task of bringing the show back. Deciding to use a female host, producers asked 1950s horror hostess, Maila Nurmi, to revive The Vampira Show. Nurmi worked on the project for a short time, but eventually quit when the producers would not hire Lola Falana to play Vampira. The station continued with the project and sent out a casting call. Peterson auditioned against 200 other horror hostess hopefuls and won the role. Producers left it up to her to create the role's image. Her best friend, Robert Redding, and she came up with the sexy punk/vampire look after producers rejected her original idea to look like Sharon Tate in The Fearless Vampire Killers.

Since they were unable to continue with the Vampira character, the character Elvira was used instead. What followed was Elvira's Movie Macabre, featuring a quick-witted Valley girl-type character named Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, with heavily applied, pancake-horror make-up and a towering black beehive wig to conceal Peterson's flame-red hair.

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.

The Elvira character rapidly gained notoriety with her tight-fitting, low-cut black gown which showed ample cleavage. The movies featured on Elvira's Movie Macabre were always B-grade (or lower). Elvira reclined on a red Victorian couch, introducing and often interrupting the movie to lampoon the actors, the script, and the editing. 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 display of 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 campy 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.

In 1982, with the success of Movie Macabre, Knott's Theme Parks hired Elvira to replace Seymour as the host of its annual Halloween Haunt during October. Elvira appeared nightly at the park, live on stage with a Halloween-themed musical comedy revue similar to her Mamma's Boys act from the 1970s.

The Elvira character rapidly evolved from obscure cult figure to a lucrative brand name and "Mistress of all Media", spawning many products throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Halloween costumes, comic books,[1][2] action figures, trading cards, pinball machines, Halloween decor, model kits, calendars, perfume, and dolls. She has appeared on the cover of Femme Fatales magazine five times. Her popularity reached its zenith with the release of the feature film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (co-written by Peterson) in 1988.

Episode list

Season 1

EpisodeFilm shownEp #Date
01Grave of the Vampire1September 26, 1981
02Silent Night, Bloody Night2October 3, 1981
03The House That Screamed3October 10, 1981
04The Fall of the House of Usher4October 17, 1981
05The Dunwich Horror5October 25, 1981
06Blacula6November 1, 1981
07The Comedy of Terrors7November 7, 1981
08The Thing with Two Heads8November 15, 1981
09The Werewolf of Washington9November 21, 1981
10Cry of the Banshee10November 29, 1981
11Count Yorga, Vampire11December 5, 1981
12Murders in the Rue Morgue12December 12, 1981
13Baron Blood13December 27, 1981
14Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde14January 3, 1982
15The Crimson Cult15January 10, 1982
16The Murder Clinic16January 16, 1982
17Horror Express17January 23, 1982
18The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant18January 30, 1982
19Horror Hospital19February 6, 1982
20Rattlers20February 13, 1982
21Disciple of Death21February 20, 1982
22Frankenstein22February 28, 1982
23The Devil's Rain23March 6, 1982
24Psychic Killer24March 13, 1982
25Necromancy25March 20, 1982
26The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe26March 27, 1982
30The Deathmaster30April 1, 1982
27Peeping Tom27April 3, 1982
28Legacy of Blood28April 10, 1982
29Deathdream29April 18, 1982
31Beware! The Blob31May 1, 1982
32Good Against Evil32May 8, 1982
33The Brotherhood of Satan33May 15, 1982
34The Mad Magician34May 22, 1982
35The Turn of the Screw35May 22, 1982
36Count Dracula's Great Love36May 29, 1982
37Jennifer37June 12, 1982
38Masque of the Red Death38June 19, 1982
39The Tomb of Ligeia39June 26, 1982
40The Incredible Melting Man40July 3, 1982
41The Fearless Vampire Killers41July 10, 1982
42Terror House42July 17, 1982
43The Baby43July 24, 1982
44The House of Seven Corpses44July 31, 1982
45Psychomania45August 7, 1982
46Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?46August 14, 1982

Season 2

EpisodeFilm shownEp #Date
01War-Gods of the Deep47September 4, 1982
02The Oblong Box48September 11, 1982
03The Raven49September 25, 1982
04The Conqueror Worm50October 2, 1982
05And Now the Screaming Starts!51October 9, 1982
06Blood from the Mummy's Tomb52October 16, 1982
07Madhouse53October 23, 1982
08The House That Dripped Blood54October 30, 1982
09Tales of Terror55October 30, 1982
10The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde56November 7, 1982
11The Day It Came to Earth57November 13, 1982
12The Blood on Satan's Claw58November 20, 1982
13Crucible of Horror59November 27, 1982
14Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde60December 4, 1982
15The Devil Within Her61December 12, 1982
16The Bat People62December 19, 1982
17The Return of Count Yorga63January 1, 1983
18Inn of the Frightened People64January 8, 1983
19Craze65January 29, 1983
20The Monster Club66February 6, 1983
21The Creature's Revenge67February 12, 1983
22Beast of the Dead68February 19, 1983
23The Island of Living Horror69February 27, 1983
24The Devil's Wedding Night70March 5, 1983
25The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism71March 12, 1983
26Curse of the Vampires72March 20, 1983
27The Vampire People73March 26, 1983
28Scream and Scream Again74April 2, 1983
29The Human Vapor75April 9, 1983
30Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural76April 16, 1983
31The Haunted Palace77June 18, 1983
32The Doomsday Machine78August 27, 1983

Season 3

EpisodeFilm shownEp #Date
01They Came From Beyond Space79September 17, 1983
02Blue Sunshine80October 1, 1983
03Screamers81October 29, 1983
04Willard82November 5, 1983
05The Time Travelers83November 12, 1983
06Maneater of Hydra84November 20, 1983
07They Came From Within85December 11, 1983
08Gamera: Super Monster86December 24, 1983
09New Year's Evil87December 31, 1983
10Homebodies88January 28, 1984
11Dracula89February 4, 1984
12Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!90March 3, 1984
13Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype91March 17, 1984
14Alien Contamination92March 24, 1984
15Village of the Damned93April 14, 1984
16Monstroid94May 12, 1984
17The Beast in the Cellar95May 19, 1984
18House of the Dead96May 26, 1984
19Circus of Horrors97June 10, 1984
20The Pigs98June 17, 1984
21Schizoid99June 24, 1984
22The Godsend100June 30, 1984
23Blood Bath101July 8, 1984
24Kiss Daddy Goodbye102July 14, 1984
25The Love War103July 28, 1984
26The Human Duplicators104August 5, 1984
27Mark of the Devil105August 11, 1984
28So Sad About Gloria106August 19, 1984
29Night of the Zombies107August 26, 1984

Season 4

EpisodeFilm shownEp #Date
01Inn of the Damned108September 1, 1984
02Tombs of the Blind Dead109September 8, 1984
03Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks110September 15, 1984
04The Capture of Bigfoot111September 22, 1984
05Village of the Giants112November 3, 1984
06The Legend of Hell House113November 10, 1984
07The Other114November 25, 1984
08The Navy vs. the Night Monsters115December 1, 1984
09The Last Bride of Salem116January 12, 1985
10Yeti: The Giant of the 20th Century117February 9, 1985
11The Revenge of Frankenstein118March 10, 1985
12Curse of Bigfoot119March 24, 1985
13The Great Alligator120May 4, 1985

Season 5

EpisodeFilm shownEp #Date
01House of Dark Shadows121June 22, 1986
02The Horror of Death122unknown
03Kill and Go Hide123unknown
04The Legend of Lizzie Borden124unknown
05The Mad Butcher125unknown
06The Meateater126unknown
07The Mighty Gorga127unknown
08Scream, Baby, Scream128unknown
09Strait-Jacket129unknown
10They Saved Hitler's Brain130unknown
11Tomb of the Living Dead131unknown
12The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll132unknown
13The Boy Who Cried Werewolf133unknown
14Let's Scare Jessica to Death134unknown
15Horror of the Zombies135unknown
16House of the Long Shadows136unknown
17Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things137unknown
18Empire of the Ants138unknown
19Nightwing139unknown
20Nightmare City140unknown

2010-11 series

In September 2010, Elvira's Movie Macabre returned to television syndication in the U.S., this time with public-domain films. Twenty-six episodes were produced, six were left unaired but found a home on both DVD and iTunes.

See E1 Entertainment for DVD releases.

s#e#Film shownepWeek of
s1e01Night of the Living Dead1September 20, 2010
s1e02The Terror2September 27, 2010
s1e03The Giant Gila Monster3October 4, 2010
s1e04The Brain That Wouldn't Die4October 11, 2010
s1e05The Satanic Rites of Dracula5October 18, 2010
s1e06Scared to Death6October 25, 2010
s1e07The Werewolf of Washington7November 1, 2010
s1e08Eegah8November 8, 2010
s1e09Teenagers From Outer Space9November 15, 2010
s1e10Santa Claus Conquers the Martians10December 20, 2010
s1e11I Eat Your Skin11January 17, 2011
s1e12Don't Look in the Basement12January 24, 2011
s1e13Untamed Women13January 31, 2011
s1e14Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter14February 7, 2011
s1e15Lady Frankenstein15February 14, 2011
s1e16The Manster16February 21, 2011
s1e17Tormented17April 25, 2011
s1e18Manos: The Hands of Fate18May 2, 2011
s1e19Hercules and the Captive Women19May 9, 2011
s1e20A Bucket of Blood20May 16, 2011

2014: 13 Nights of Elvira

13 Nights of Elvira, was an all-new series produced for Hulu by Brainstorm Media. A new episode streamed each day through Halloween.[3] The series teamed with film distributor Full Moon Features; it provided the majority of the films chosen for the series.

EpisodeFilm shownDate
01Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of DeathOctober 19, 2014
02Puppet MasterOctober 20, 2014
03Demonic ToysOctober 21, 2014
04HobgoblinsOctober 22, 2014
05The Gingerdead ManOctober 23, 2014
06DollmanOctober 24, 2014
07TrancersOctober 25, 2014
08OblivionOctober 26, 2014
09Shrunken HeadsOctober 27, 2014
10Hideous!October 28, 2014
11Evil BongOctober 29, 2014
12SeedpeopleOctober 30, 2014
13Night of the Living DeadOctober 31, 2014

DVD releases

Time Life

In 2004 Time Life released a series of special Elvira DVD's titled "Elvira's Horror Classics" which was done in a similar fashion to Movie Macabre. Each DVD had two films and they were later released in a box set titled "Elvira's Box of Horrors". The films featured were all in the public domain. They included:

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 complete with Elvira's interruptions or uninterrupted. Unlike the original broadcasts, the original films are complete and uncensored.[4]

Single DVDs

Double Feature DVDs

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 releases were released in their edited format as aired on syndication.

Single DVDs

Double Feature DVDs

Four Feature Sets

Parodies

The Simpsons character Boobarella is loosely based on Elvira.

See also

References

External links

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