Elvira's Haunted Hills
Elvira's Haunted Hills | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Sam Irvin |
Written by | |
Produced by | Mark Pierson |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Viorel Sergovici |
Edited by | Stephen Myers |
Music by | Eric Allaman |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | The Elvira Movie Company |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.5 million |
Elvira's Haunted Hills is a 2001 American comedy horror film directed by Sam Irvin and written by Cassandra Peterson and John Paragon. It is the second film starring Peterson in the title role (credited as Elvira), after the 1988 theatrical release Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. The film also stars Richard O'Brien and Mary Scheer.
The film opened on the July 5, 2001 weekend at the Laemmle Fairfax Cinemas in Los Angeles[1] after premiering at the International Rocky Horror Fan Convention on 23 June 2001. It was released direct-to-video on 31 October 2002.
Plot
[edit]In 1851 in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, Elvira and her maidservant Zou Zou (Mary Jo Smith), on their way to a can-can revue in Paris, get kicked out of an inn for a slight monetary discrepancy. After making their way out of the village, they are rescued by Dr. Bradley Bradley (Scott Atkinson), who takes them to stay at Castle Hellsubus, in the hills high above the village. While there, Elvira meets the residents—and discovers that she happens to resemble the deceased former wife of his Lordship, the Count Vladimere Hellsubus.
Cast
[edit]- Cassandra Peterson as Elvira / Lady Elura Hellsubus
- Richard O'Brien as Lord Vladimere Hellsubus
- Mary Scheer as Lady Ema Hellsubus
- Scott Atkinson as Dr. Bradley Bradley
- Gabriel Andronache as Adrian
- Mary Jo Smith as Zou Zou
- Heather Hopper as Lady Roxanna Hellsubus
- Remus Cernat as Nicholai Hellsubus
- Lucia Maier as the maid
- Jerry Jackson as the English gentleman
- Theodor Danetti as the innkeeper
Production
[edit]The film was independently filmed and privately funded; Peterson and her then-husband Mark Pierson mortgaged their house and the apartment building they co-owned to raise $1 million, with donations from relatives providing the rest of the budget. It was filmed in Transylvania, Romania, and promoted at film festivals and horror/sci-fi conventions. The film parodies the Roger Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe films of the early 1960s and is dedicated to the memory of the then-recently deceased Vincent Price.[1] The film also parodies British horror films from Hammer Studios. Mention of this is made on the featurette contained within the DVD of the film. Scott Atkinson's character is clearly evocative of Price, who starred in many of the Poe films.
Reception
[edit]Elvira's Haunted Hills holds a 69% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews.[2] In an unfavorable review, Ty Burr in the Boston Globe rated it as "A sloppy slapstick throwback to long gone bottom-of-the-bill fare like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken."[3]
Awards
[edit]- 2002 Provincetown International Film Festival: Best Feature – Audience Award[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Ryon, Ruth (17 November 2014). "Like Night and Day". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Elvira's Haunted Hills". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
- ^ "Archived copy". ae.boston.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2002. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ IMDb 2002 Provincetown International Film Festival
External links
[edit]- 2001 films
- 2001 comedy horror films
- 2001 independent films
- 2000s American films
- 2000s English-language films
- 2000s ghost films
- 2000s parody films
- American comedy horror films
- American haunted house films
- American independent films
- American parody films
- American sequel films
- Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
- Films about witchcraft
- Films based on television series
- Films directed by Sam Irvin
- Films set in the 1850s
- Films set in castles
- Films set in Romania
- Films shot in Bucharest
- MediaPro Pictures films
- Parodies of horror