Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (PG-13)
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Caution: spoilers.
This came out in 1988, but I didn't see it until 2024. It's supposed to be a comedy horror, but it's almost entirely a comedy. The horror-ish part doesn't come until near the end. And even then, there's nothing really scary about it. Anyway, I've been aware of the character of Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) pretty much as long as I can remember, even though I never saw her hosting "Movie Macabre", which didn't air in my area. I must have seen her in commercials and stuff like that. I've always vaguely wanted to get to know the character a bit better, which is why I wanted to watch this movie. Well... I thought it was okay. Elvira is mostly an okay character in the movie, but I didn't like her as much as I hoped I would. Some of her humor was fun, in a cheesy sort of way. And some of it I didn't really care for, even ironically. Of course, if you're at all familiar with the character, you have to expect a certain amount of boob jokes, but I feel like the movie took that (and other body part jokes) too far. Thankfully there was more to the movie's humor than just that. Mostly, Elvira seems rather sarcastic and snarky.
So... it starts out with Elvira hosting a B-movie TV show like "Movie Macabre", but she ends up quitting when the station's new owner gets handsy. She also has a deal set up to do an act in Las Vegas, but after she quits her TV job, it turns out the Vegas people want her to come up with $50,000 before she can perform. As luck would have it, her great aunt Morgana, whom she never knew, left her an inheritance, which she had to go to Fallwell, Massachusetts, to collect. The inheritance turns out to be her great aunt's house, a dog named Algonquin (whom Elvira calls "Gonk"), and a cook book. Morgana's brother, Vincent, wants to get his hands on the book, and offers Elvira $50 for it, which she accepts... but Gonk hides the book.
Meanwhile, most of the residents of Fallwell take an immediate dislike to Elvira, because the town has a strict morality code, and they basically don't like the way she dresses. The head of the town council, Chastity Pariah, particularly dislikes her, and wants her to leave town. But there's a teenage girl named Robin who befriends her, as well as a number of teenage boys who like her because she's sexy. She also meets a guy named Bob, who runs a movie theater that's only allowed to show G rated movies. He becomes a love interest for her (or at least a lust interest), though I think he seemed either oblivious to Elvira's feelings, or else just really shy. But at least he became a friend to her. Which annoyed a woman named Patty, who was interested in Bob, herself.
Anyway, the teenagers help Elvira fix up the house she inherited it, as she hopes to sell it to get the money she needs for her Vegas act. The realtor, Mr. Glotter (Kurt Fuller), also sexually harasses her, so she kicks him out, and is left without much hope of selling the house. And throughout the movie, Vincent's henchmen, Travis (Jeff Conaway) and Billy (Frank Collison, whom I knew from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), search for the cook book. Elvira eventually finds the book and tries it out to cook a meal for Bob and herself, but that doesn't go so well, because it turns out to be a spell book (which I had suspected all along). She decides not to sell it to Vincent, after all, but he gets his hands on it anyway. Turns out he's a warlock who wants to take over the world or whatever. And he convinces the townsfolk to burn Elvira at the stake as a witch. But of course she ends up escaping, and has a sort of battle with Vincent.
And... I dunno what else to say. Of course Elvira ultimately wins, and gets the money she needed, so the movie ends with her Las Vegas act, which I didn't particularly care for. But overall, I found the movie entertaining enough that I didn't feel I'd wasted my time with it. It's pretty ridiculous, but it obviously doesn't take itself seriously, so if you have the right mindset, it's possible to like it sort of ironically, I guess. Because that's how it's meant to be watched.
Followed by "Elvira's Haunted Hills"