Elvira’s Haunted Hills was the long-anticipated sequel to Elvira: Mistress of the Dark that saw the return of Cassandra Peterson returning to the role she has played, and still does, for so many years. The Blu-ray is released by Shout Factory and came out October 6th.
Elvira’s Haunted Hills
— Collector’s Edition —
(2001)
Genre(s): Comedy, Horror
Shout Factory| PG13 – 90 min. – $34.98 | October 5, 2021
Date Published: 11/06/2021 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
Shout Factory provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
PLOT SYNOPSIS |
|
The tale begins in 1851, when Elvira (CASSANDRA PETERSON) and her maid Zou Zou (MARY JO SMITH) are en route to perform in the Parisian Revue “Yes I Can Can,” but inadvertently end up at the sinister Lord Valdimere Hellsubus’ medieval castle. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Vladimere’s long-dead wife, Elvira learns of the Hellsubus curse and finds her life in danger. Will she escape the family curse and the evil Vladimere? And can she keep her hands off of the stable hand long enough to save the day? |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3½/5 |
|
This release comes with a thick, side-sliding slip cover. The interior cover is reversible with the film’s original artwork. Audio Commentary — Actors Cassandra Peterson, Mary Scheer, Mary Jo Smith and Scott Atkinson. This is a lively track, just some old friends gathering to watch a movie. They do dole out information on the production so it is at least informative. Introduction by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (4:41) gives an intro to this movie (plays before the film as well), celebrating the film’s anniversary. Transylvania or Bust (28:25) — Older featurette with the cast and crew, including Cassandra Peterson, talking about the film. The Making of Elvira’s Haunted Hills (22:20) — Vintage featurette from I’m guessing the early 2000s and features more interview footage with Peterson as well as director Sam Irvin and others. Elvira in Romania (46:32) is some behind-the-scenes footage of the production in Romania. Interview with Richard O’Brien (6:10) — Older interview with the actor as he discusses his role. Rounding things out are two Trailers (3:49), some Outtakes (0:55) and Still Gallery (1:57). |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| Elvira’s Haunted Hills arrives on Blu-ray through Shout Factory where it’s shown in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a new 1080p high-definition transfer taken from a restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Outside of some matte paintings combined with live action film, the picture here is pretty impressive. Detail on close-ups is sharp and very nicely defined and colors appear to be vibrant while black levels are stark without seeming crushed. There are some minor dust marks or scratches from time to time but nothing distracting or overbearing. |
AUDIO – 4½/5 |
| The movie includes a strong DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (along with a 2.0 option as per usual with some Shout Factory titles). Here, dialogue comes across with great clarity throughout and there is some decent enough depth for ambient noise of spooky sounds in the castle. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.