Trivia / Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Elvira's (Cassandra Peterson) dress is cut in a specific way and her hair is long in the back to hide burn scars Peterson has on her neck and shoulders from an accident in her youth. Peterson has joked that her Elvira costume only shows "the good bits".
  • In real life, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) began her career as a topless Las Vegas showgirl; a career her character also pursues in the film, though Elvira wears a tasseled bra over her breasts.
  • While working as a go-go dancer, 14-year-old Cassandra Peterson was taught how to tassel twirl by a stripper who was also employed at the club. As a minor, Peterson wasn't allowed to do it with pasties, so she talked her mother into creating a tasseled bra from an old bikini top, and she practiced extensively until she'd perfected it. She hadn't done it for many years but decided to utilize this unusual talent for the Las Vegas scene, and discovered doing it again was as easy as riding a bike.
• Box Office Bomb: The movie had a budget of $7.5 million and a box office of $5.5 million.
• California Doubling: The small town of Falwell, Massachusetts is actually Midwest Street, on the Warner Bros. backlot. It was named after preacher Jerry Falwell, Sr.
• Novelization: In 1986-87, Marvel Comics released a magazine-sized comic book adaptation of this film.
• On-Set Injury:
  • During the scene in which Elvira is being burned at the stake, the heat from the flames was so intense that this melted Cassandra Peterson's black Elvira wig.
  • The scene with Elvira being burned at the stake took five days to shoot. During these scenes, Cassandra Peterson spent three hours at a time tied to the stake. She was also covered in flame retardant for her protection, which made her itch like crazy, but she was unable to scratch because her hands were tied.
  • The tar that Elvira is covered in at the end of the Flashdance spoof sequence was actually black paint. Because of the time required to clean the paint off Cassandra Peterson and her costume, this segment was shot only once.
• Real-Life Relative: Dale Peterson, father of Cassandra Peterson, a real life Allstate Insurance representative, appears uncredited in this film as an Allstate Insurance representative.
• The Merch: First issued on VHS and Beta in the USA by New World Video in February 1989 with a suggested retail price of $89.95. The video store promotional poster declared: "What a Pair! Elvira and Valentine's Day!".
• Troubled Production: Before the film even began, Robert Redding (Peterson's wig stylist and the one who designed the entire look of Elvira) died of AIDS. Peterson later admitted she was too harsh on the wig stylist for this film since she was used to only Redding doing it. The film was dedicated to his memory and the character of Bob was named after him.
  • Another issue arose with Binnie, the poodle who played Gonk; Binnie only seemed to like his trainer (resulting in scenes having to be overdubbed to mute the trainer's voice), attacked Kurt Fuller, couldn't hit its' mark or perform properly, and Peterson insisted they use a non-permanent, vegetable-based dye for Binnie's fur (resulting in it needing touch=ups constantly).
• What Could Have Been:
  • The project began when an NBC casting director pitched then-president Brandon Tartikoff on a sitcom starring Elvira, and Tartikoff was all for it. But Cassandra Peterson really wanted to make an Elvira movie; the ultimate plan became NBC co-producing the movie in hopes of sequels and a TV series further down the line...but the movie bombed and Tartikoff left in 1991, resulting in there being no sequels or series (since now there was new management which didn't want to be associated with projects from the old management).
  • It was also Tartikoff's idea to give it a Harper Valley PTA-style plot and add a bunch of teenagers to the film, forcing everyone to jostle for screentime.
  • Peterson wanted Tim Burton to direct, but he was busy with Beetlejuice.
  • The role of Uncle Vinnie was written for Vincent Price (who'd become friends with Peterson), but he passed on the role due to the raciness of the script. W. Morgan Sheppard got the part, after some difficulty in the audition process (he kept changing his readings until a producer told him to be "more evil", which won him the role).
  • A young Brad Pitt was nearly cast as Randy, until Peterson realized Pitt was so attractive Elvira would've ignored Bob for Randy, and therefore Kris Kamm got the part.
  • Paul Reubens was supposed to do a cameo (returning the favor for her cameo as the Biker Mama in Pee-wee's Big Adventure), but there were scheduling conflicts with Big Top Pee-wee. In Elvira's Sinema Seance show at 2013's Knott's Scary Farm, Reubens does make a cameo (as a Hannibal Lecter-type).
  • Peterson was making plans for a sequel, and even wrote a script; unfortunately, she sold it to Carolco Pictures, which went under not long after, taking the rights to the script with them. Another movie, Elvira vs. The Vampire Women, was announced, but contract disputes with Roger Corman scuttled those plans. She even attempted the sitcom angle, but her attempt in 1993 went unaired by CBS^note Peterson once explained at a convention that the president of CBS at the time liked it and was going to give it a series order; he then proceeded to get sick and the head of the sports division subbed for him, and his reaction was "We can't have boobs like that on television" and canned the project; Peterson is still annoyed about that.
• Word of God:
  • The ultimate fate of the three town council members who were turned into hogs was deleted from the film. In the script, as the crowd is amassed at Elvira's door, a generic character mentions that they hadn't been seen since the previous evening. Suddenly a truck drives past that reads "MOLEEN BACON - We're Hog Wild on Quality!" Keeping with the lighter tone of the movie, Vincent's spell wore off before they were slaughtered. Arrow's blu ray includes several stills of an additional scene depicting the trio awakening (semi) nude and surrounded by pigs in the back of a trailer.
  • Cassandra Peterson said in Nov. 2021 that she still wants to do a sequel and has a script ready to go, but she can't find anyone willing to produce it due to most of the filming industry "going woke."
• Write Who You Know: The anchorwoman played by Tress MacNeille is based on a real anchorwoman Cassandra Peterson did not get along with during her days at a local television station.