I only recently discovered Elvira through the first film - Elvira Mistress Of The Dark. Honestly, it was entertaining enough to warrant my buying a DVD of the show (which includes "The Satanic Rites Of Dracula" and "The Werewolf Of Washington"). So I went ahead and watched the sequel...sort of...and...this movie only holds up due to its ideas!So what are these ideas? Okay, its a spoof of Roger Corman movies, particularly the Edgar Allan Poe ones he did (not specifically stated but with the Pit and the Pendulum scene, its hard not to miss) where Elvira and her maid are in 1851 (as far as setup goes, a movie about a horror host being set before films were even invented isn't the strangest thing on display here) and short on money. So they hitch a ride with a Dr Bradley Bradley whose on his way to Castle Hellsubus. While there, everyone remarks on how much Elvira looks like Lady Hellsubus who committed suicide some 10 years earlier and was the first wife of our villain Vladimir Hellsubus (I'm not spoiling that he's the villain...just read the name he's got. He's played by Richard O'Brien. How do you not IMMEDIATELY see that he's the villain just from my review?).As a setup goes, thats not awful. In fact, I'd say its close to damn near inspired. Having someone famous for making fun of bad movies being in a self aware bad movie. It doesn't even go over the top with the premise like Sharknado does in a desperate "WE KNOW THIS IS CRAP! LAUGH!" over and over. As for the other elements that are good - Richard O'Brien is probably the most chuckles you'll get from this but only because he looks like he's having way too much fun with the part (and honestly, Richard Chamberlain backing out and being replaced with O'Brien probably saved the film an extra star). The costumes and set designers can be very proud of themselves. It looked and felt like a classic B-movie while still being a...modern B-movie.So whats bad? Well, all of the above would work if the jokes were written with any form of subtlety. I know I just said "It doesn't even go over the top with the premise" but that was the premise, not the actual humor of the film. Things like one liners about modern pop culture that aren't even funny just detract the entire film. For those that haven't seen it, allow me to demonstrate by quoting some lines that are actually in the film:"The village people say this house is haunted" "Who listens to The Village People anymore?""Shut up! What are you trying to do? Go for an Oscar""Heeeeeeeerrrrrrreeeee's Johan!"The whole FILM is filled with references like that! Its no less funny when you watch it than when you read it.Even if you took the references out, the jokes aren't as "on form" as Mistress Of The Dark. Why? The music score. Now that'll immediately warrant the reaction "how could something like the music score impact on the delivery of jokes?" Well, you know in cartoons where the people behind it play goofy as hell music when they're warranting a laugh or even just to get the audience ready for "something funny is gonna happen."? This film does that in every scene. Literally. I counted. The jokes aren't even on form enough to warrant that. So what we have here is a music score trying too hard to be a cartoon with jokes that aren't even funny enough to carry the film.As for the technical stuff outside of "costumes" and "sets"...oh god. The visual effects in this film are awful. Its mostly done with CGI...CGI in a film that had the overall budget of $1.5 million. I know Cassandra Peterson had to finance the film mostly all on her own but the visual effects in the 80's movie look a million times better and this came out some 13 years after. Hell the Sylvester McCoy Doctor Who intro looks better. Maybe you could say my judgement of the visual effects aren't great considering what was in the budget but needless to say, no matter what eye you look at it through, the CGI doesn't look good. Some of the more practical things like the Pit and the Pendulum, the iron maiden being closed in on people and the corpses all look fine though. Which is rather weird.Whats sad about the film is that the quality of the writing this time around is the single biggest blunder of the film. If this was given a few more drafts, who knows how much longer the series could've gone on for? It could've spoofed so many genres. Maybe the series would have subtlety...okay, thats impossible. But you get what I mean. This film series is, in general, supposed to be fun and yet, the failure of this film sank all chances of it, or any other film in the series, getting another film.As for everything else I didn't mention, its all on my very strong opinion of..."not great not horrible".So my final thoughts? Yeah, this movie is bad but its mostly just "dumb sequel bad". Even then, I've seen plenty of bad sequels that are far worse than this (this wouldn't even break my top 30) and I got some entertainment here and there with a few jokes that worked but thats the killer part - "a few". A lot of the problems are just too great for me to fully enjoy it enough to even consider it "okay". So check it out if you're interested but...just be prepared to not fully enjoy it.

The BEST worst movie ever! This movie was fantastic! Anyone who can watch "horror" movies and have a good laugh at the corny stuff that makes it to screen today should see this movie. And best of all, it's not a "dirty" movie with lots of unnecessary nudity and bad language like some other horror movies or even spoofs of horror movies. No gag is too cliché; no pun is unworthy of being exploited; no opportunity for a cheap laugh passed up. But this isn't a kids' movie! Elvira is the Mistress of the Night for good reason, and she makes sure you know why...while keeping the rating a very tame PG13. But she still manages to make sure that everything is in good fun!

Whether or not you like this movie pretty much depends on what you think of Elvira. I've been an admirer since the late 80s, her look, and campy sense of humor has always appealed to me. The movie is pretty silly, and low budget, but if your an Elvira fan, then you wouldn't want it any other way. I saw this at a charity screening in Dallas, and Cassandra Petersen appeared and introduced the movie, answered questions, and signed autographs. She wasn't dressed as Elvira, she was just there as herself, I got to speak to her for a few minutes, and she signed a picture for me, she is still absolutely gorgeous, and a very sweet woman. She and her husband had to finance the movie themselves, the only deal the studios would offer wouldn't have allowed them to make any kind of profit from the movie, so if your a fan, then buy the DVD, you'll enjoy it, and if your not a fan, then buy it anyway, you can always look at Elviras "hills", that's worth the price alone.

It seems that all of the negative comments about this film are based on the fact that most of the jokes are old. That's the point, isn't it? Elvira is supposed to be campy, and so is this movie.This movie shines because Peterson's performance is, as always, superb. Her timing and gleeful delivery make the film impossible for anyone with an appreciation for the subject matter to resist. The only possible complaint that a fan may have is that, by placing the character out of the ordinary, she becomes somehow less extraordinary, and feels almost normal in comparison to her surroundings. Even then, though, she's hilarious.As for claims that it was too bad for a major studio, well, that's really an impossibility, isn't it? The films Elvira hosts are nearly always major studio releases. The problems with shopping this movie around to studios and distributors is that the movie is completely built around the character, but the industry would likely only have been able to pay Peterson as an actress and writer, in spite of the fact that her copyrights are the basis of the film.