Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark DVD > Reviews > BOOBS, LEGS, COMEDY AND WITCHCRAFT

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Just two
Disadvantages:	ONLY two

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Elvira is the Goth vamp star of a small network B-movie review show. Sick of the lustful advances of the networks executives, and with the promise of her own Las Vegas cabaret act, she tells the head of the TV company where to stick his job, and walks away.

Unfortunately, her agent has left it until now to tell her that Las Vegas want $50,000 to help finance the show otherwise the deals off. Just as she is desperately wondering where she is going to find $50,000 she gets a telegram.

Her aunt Morgana Talbot has recently died and left her an inheritance, but she needs to go to Fallwell, Massachusetts to collect it. This comes as quite a shock to Elvira, mainly because, having been raised by nuns in an orphanage, she didn’t even know she had an aunt Morgana. But, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, and hoping that the inheritance might save her Las Vegas show, she sets off.

Conservative, sleepy Fallwell doesn’t know what hits it when the barely clad nymphette drives noisily into town. The kids love her outrageous look, the women hate her sexy style and the men are knocked out by her…….(well, insert your own word here please).

After ruffling a few feathers among the locals, Elvira finds that she has been bequeathed slightly less than she had been hoping for: a rundown house, a mangy looking poodle, and an old recipe book.

Looking to the bright side, if she can fix the house up it might be worth something, and her uncle Vincent, Morgana’s brother, has offered to buy the recipe book for $50. All the town’s kids chip in to help fix up the house, and do a rather strange job of it, but that suits Elvira just fine.

As the town council formulate a plan to get rid of their new arrival, the local cinema owner, Bob Redding, and Elvira get closer, thanks to a nasty plan from one of the jealous women of the community backfiring. Whilst trying to get more than just a little attention from Bob, Elvira finds the book and decides to cook up a meal for them both.

But instead of stew, thanks to some Elvira-esque touches, she manages to create a monster, which they have to destroy in the waste disposal system. The dog, Gonk, then snatches the book and takes it up to the attic, where Elvira and Bob find a letter from Morgana explaining that the family are witches, and that Vincent must never get his hands on the book, which is really a spell book.

Unfazed by this revelation, Elvira decides to get even with the town council by cooking up the same recipe that created the monster, for their Morality Fayre. Having to substitute even more ingredients this time creates a completely different potion, a love potion, which has all the stuffy old codgers dancing around in some rather unseemly ways.

Recovered from their spell induced debauchery, the council let fly with their recriminations until Vincent steps up and produces an ancient law of Massachusetts which will allow them to burn Elvira at the stake for witchcraft.
Thrown in a cell, awaiting execution, Elvira can not prevent the recipe/spell book from falling into the hands of her uncle Vincent, who , as a warlock, wants it so that he can be all-powerful………………..

COMMENT
If you like deep meaningful films, this one is not for you. It does not have a great depth of acting, although all the performers manage adequately to pull off their roles. There is no time for building the characters to any depth as the frenetic pace only ever gets faster.

Subtlety is not an option in this film, unless you are able to pick up on the “in jokes”, such as the chairwoman of the council being called Chastity Pariah. Elvira spells out the jokettes in a very blatant manner, although this does not detract from their humour.

Whether you’re into comedy films like this or not, if you’re a bloke, you’re just going to love the Mistress of the Dark’s gusto (or you can insert your own words here). In fact, the trick she does right at the end of the film is quite impressive.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Like many films from the 1980’s nowadays, the list of extras for this film is very limited, with just a five and a half minute featurette and the theatrical trailer.

Trailers don’t cut the ice for me, but the featurette is quite cute, although it does go over the film a little too much.

RECOMMENDATION
Should you buy this film ?

It’s dross, it’s badly acted, the comedy is mainly sexually orientated and the characters are shallow.

OF COURSE YOU SHOULD BUY IT ! IT’S GREAT !