6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Elvira, the wisecracking vamp, wants to take her act from the little screen to the glitzy stages of Las Vegas. So it seems a stroke of luck when her great-aunt Morgana dies and, despite having no prior knowledge of the relative, she is a beneficiary of the woman’s will. Thus Elvira makes the journey to Falwell, Massachusetts, to stake claim to her inheritance but is disappointed when she learns that she has only inherited a dilapidated house, a poodle and a cookbook, and finds the conservative folk of Falwell are reticent to welcome a sexed-up and unconventional woman like her. To compound this, she is accused of being a witch! Elvira discovers the evil force in the town and finds that only she has the power to stop its plans.
Starring: Cassandra Peterson, Larry "Flash" Jenkins, Edie McClurg, Pat Crawford Brown, William DuellHorror | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Road Not Taken is one of the most well remembered poems by Robert Frost, one that composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim slightly reworked for the engaging song “The Road You Didn’t Take” from 1971’s Follies. Cassandra Peterson may be forgiven if she’s prone to either reading the Frost piece or listening to the Sondheim tune, since as a rather lengthy and in depth “making of” featurette included on this Blu-ray as a supplement makes clear, Peterson had a choice to make back in the 1980s, and some (including Peterson herself) may feel she made the wrong decision. As Peterson gets into in the supplement, none other than (at that point in time) NBC head honcho Brandon Tartikoff was a huge fan of Peterson’s Elvira persona, and approached Peterson with the idea of Elvira starring in a weekly sitcom on NBC. As another “management” type talking head on this documentary mentions, this was in the day when the demarcation between television stars and film stars was probably more firmly ensconced than it is today, and Peterson had dreams of matriculating Elvira to the big screen, and so declined the offer of a weekly gig on the network. Interestingly, Tartikoff ended up being involved anyway, since the then fledgling NBC Studios was one of the producing partners for the film, but even then Tartikoff hedged his bets by insisting that in turn for helping get Elvira: Mistress of the Dark into cineplexes, he would in turn be granted the “right of first refusal” for any planned Elvira television series. Probably needless to say, an Elvira sitcom never materialized, perhaps due at least in part to the less than rapturous response Elvira: Mistress of the Dark received from critics and (probably more saliently) from the ticket buying public.
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the restoration:
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark has been exclusively restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with stereo audio.Elvira: Mistress of the Dark has had a number of previous home media releases going back to the halcyon days of VHS (those were halcyon days, weren't they?). While some international Blu-rays have come out (see our Forum for some comments by Members), my personal experience with this title is limited to the old Image DVD from the early aughts of the 21st century. In that regard, there's absolutely no comparison in any of the categories we typically assess in our reviews, something that should obviously come as no big surprise. Saturation, densities, detail levels and grain resolution are all manifestly improved. A number of our readers evidently have the Cinespectral release, and some of the screenshot comparisons between the two are rather interesting, at least to my eyes. There is arguably a marginally "hotter" look to the Cinespectral, as well as arguably a bit more clarity, but I am judging solely on screenshots which I personally feel is always a risky gambit. I found the palette of the Arrow release to be really warm without ever looking too brash, and some of the bold primaries, red in particular, pop extremely well throughout this presentation. There are some noticeable differences in color temperature and clarity throughout, some of which are due to the variances of lighting conditions. Some of the outdoor material is fantastic looking, with deeply saturated colors and excellent detail levels and clarity, while some of the interior material is a bit hazy at times, with some of the darkest moments suffering from some minor but noticeable crush. Grain is a little coarse looking at times, but generally resolves very naturally. As is mentioned in some of the supplements, this film was shot on a shoestring budget, and it often looks like it, especially with regard to some of the lo-fi special effects. The bottom line is, if you have only experienced this film in standard definition, you're probably going to be generally blown away by the appearance of this transfer. If you have one of the other international Blu-ray releases, I'd recommend you carefully parse the screenshots accompanying this review (as risky a gambit as that admittedly may be) to see how you feel about the look of this version.
An original 35mm interpositive was scanned in 2K resolution at Deluxe/EFilm, Burbank. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master and restored at R3Store Studios in London. The original stereo mix was remastered by Lakeshore Entertainment.
All materials for this restoration were made available by Mike Lechner/Lakeshore Entertainment.
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark features a boisterous LPCM 2.0 track that capably supports some of the fun source cues, as well as the big "song and dance" by Elvira that caps the film. Dialogue and effects are also rendered clearly without any problems whatsoever. The stereo imaging is actually rather nicely realized, especially in some of the effects sequences, where kind of ironically the visual element isn't always mind blowing. Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and due to the kind of gonzo proclivities of the story and characters, dynamic range is rather wide as well.
- Production Stills (HD; 14:40)
- Behind the Scenes (HD; 5:10)
- SFX (HD; 11:10)
- Original Storyboards (HD; 4:31)
- New York City Premiere (HD; 1:10)
- Miscellaneous (HD; 1:30)
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is an admittedly uneven enterprise, one that may simply not be able to overcome what is kind of an inherent toughness of its titular character (and, yes, I just said titular). The film has some amusing moments along the way, but it also misses the bullseye on regular occasions. This Arrow edition features solid technical merits and some very appealing supplements, for those considering a purchase.
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