Elvira's Movie Macabre


Elvira's Movie Macabre, 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".
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.''

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. 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.
Two million pairs of $0.99 3D glasses were reportedly sold for the 22 May 1982, broadcast of The Mad Magician.
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. She was associated with many products through the 1980s and 1990s, including Halloween costumes, comic books, 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, on whose script, written directly for the screen, Peterson collaborated with John Paragon and Sam Egan.

Episode list

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Revivals

''Midnight Madness'' (1990s)

In the 1990s, Rhino Home Video released Midnight Madness, a collection of films hosted by Elvira, on VHS.
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.
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
s1e21Attack of the Giant Leeches21unaired
s1e22Beast from Haunted Cave22unaired
s1e23Monster from a Prehistoric Planet23unaired
s1e24The Killer Shrews24unaired
s1e25The Wasp Woman25unaired
s1e26The Wild Women of Wongo26unaired

''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.
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