Editor's Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on October 14, 2002, and we're proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
It may seem too easy to cite The Rocky Horror Picture Show when reviewing Elvira’s Haunted Hills, given Richard O’Brien’s presence in both movies. But watching the latter on video does beg the comparison: Conventional wisdom has it that Rocky is much more fun when seen with a loud, responsive audience than when viewed on its own, and the same seems true of Haunted Hills. I missed the film when it had its midnight theatrical tour earlier this year, and when checking out GoodTimes’ DVD, I couldn’t help thinking that I should have tried harder to make one of those showings.
Haunted Hills’ heart is certainly in the right place. Cassandra Peterson (Elvira’s alter ego), her co-scripter John Paragon, her producer/husband Mark Pierson and director Sam Irvin were aiming for a takeoff on the Roger Corman/Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe films, and in that they have succeeded. Quoting liberally from The Pit and the Pendulum and House of Usher particularly and shooting on location in Romania, they have fashioned a good-looking tribute that gets the atmosphere just right. The production design and photography are quite lush for the low budget, and look quite good in the DVD’s 1.85:1 transfer, which boasts a clean and colorful picture (much like Corman with his Poe pictures, the filmmakers here have visually done a lot with a little). Other traditions of the AIP B-pictures are spoofed as well; my favorite is the character of Adrian (Gabriel Andronache), a hunky stableboy who is very obviously dubbed, and speaks with the type of voice familiar from the imported muscleman movies of the ’60s.
The film works better as a homage than as a comedy, however. As various odd supporting characters (led by O’Brien’s Lord Vladimere Hellsubus) skulk about the opulent castle setting, most of the actual humor falls on the shoulders (or whatever) of Elvira herself, and much of it falls, er, flat. The movie is set in 1851 and some of the Mistress’ quips feel about that old; her droll, sarcastic reactions to the weirdness around her are simply never as funny as the character seems to think they are. Another problem is that despite her lead status, Elvira doesn’t really do all that much; she spends most of the story simply reacting, rather than driving it forward. The result is a lack of the rapid-fire pace necessary to make this kind of jokefest work.
The filmmakers would have done well to more closely study Young Frankenstein, which is cited as an inspiration in a making-of featurette included on the DVD. All the elements of Haunted Hills’ production are covered, with Peterson and her team giving particular attention to the casting and production design (the latter comes in for some deserved praise). Fun visual snippets are also included, such as behind-the-scenes video of everything from the set construction to O’Brien’s stunt double getting his head shaved, plus original footage of Andronache speaking undubbed Romanian (we learn that only after he was cast, and proved to know no English, was the dubbing gag decided on). Other extras include a photo gallery and a short on-set interview with O’Brien, who actually says more about Rocky Horror than about Haunted Hills before he’s called back to his scene.
