Cassandra Peterson is Elvira

"One of my favorite movies of all time, which I didn't even realize has Vampira in it, is Plan 9 from Outer Space. She was a walking towel rack in that, but she had a cool look." -Cassandra Peterson

Cassandra Peterson is the woman of the month because she was the first, and the best, woman I've ever seen in horror. Creating the character of Elvira has allowed Cassandra to become a living legend in the world of horror. She's a goddess to the men, and a goddess to the women. She represents sexuality, comedy, and the campy cheesiness that has become such a staple of b-films and cult movies everywhere. Cassandra Peterson has proven that you can be sexy while still being incredibly talented, intelligent, and hilarious. And scary. As the host of Movie Macabre for 12 years, she showed us awesome flicks like Daughters of Satan and The House that dripped Blood that probably would have NEVER been seen anywhere. With no such thing as the Sci-Fi channel, the character of Elvira brought to our living rooms films that were so bad its almost a joke that they were made at all. Thanks to her Halloween specials and her cheery way of laughing at demented psychos that crank-called her on the show, she gave us a way to laugh at bad horror, and to laugh at our fears when we saw something that actually did scare us. She went on to star in her own cult film in 1988 Elvira, Mistress of the Dark that had a very Tim Burton feel to it. It basically chronicled some particularly funny events in the life of Elvira, thanks to her sorcerer uncle and shape-shifting dog. She followed that up with 2001's Elvira's Haunted Hills which she wrote herself. Now making appearances at various conventions around the country (and in other countries) Cassandra Peterson is better known than many of the male egos in the horror world. And she has a great set of hooters, which I envy.

Cassandra on the character of Elvira

Heidi: How did you create the persona of Elvira

Cassandra: I was an actress and I was working in a comedy group out here called the groundlings. I was with them for 4 1/2 years. What the groundlings do is improv. What you do is come up with characters. Pee Wee Herman (Paul Rubens), Phil Hartman, are groundling alumni, for example. A lot of people have come out of there. Anyway, I did a dorky character, like a valley-girl actress, you know? I don't know what she was like, I got a call about a local horror hosting gig, and a girlfriend of mine said 'Oh, you would be perfect! because he's leaning towards somebody kind of sexy and scary " and I was like, "I'm scary?" She said "Sexy and funny. I think that's what he's leaning towards." I had these grueling interviews that went on forever and they interviewed everybody in L.A. I think. They put this big open ad in the newspaper. Big Mistake! Cause you know, every crazy person comes out of the woodwork. I ended up getting the part, looking like myself, which is fairly normal. And then they told me to come up with a look, an outfit. A friend of mine, my best friend at the time, who since has died, he came up with the dress and the wig and the hair and all that. So basically, I did the character I had been doing, but I did it with that look.

H: So you had total control over what Elvira looked like?

C: Not total, my friend was an artist, so he knew a lot more about dress designing and hairdos than I do, he came up with the look and was making sketches. Actually we went a completely different way in the beginning...more like 'what's her name," oh, you know, Fearless Vampire Killershello? Blanking on her name. Oh anyway, she gets killed.

H: Sharon Tate? That girl that was married to "what's his name"?

C: YES! Sharon Tate. Roman Polanksi. We went for a look that was long curly red hair, cause I thought I was going to use my own hair, and filmy gauze that came torn, like a ghosty dead person. We took that into them and they were like,(Cassandra does a high pitched nasal voice) "No No you've got to have black hair black dress". UGH! Typical. I tired to design something that wouldn't look like a clone of Morticia Adams but still has black hair and a black dress. So that's what we did! And I went on and I started doing the character. And it took off like crazy on local TV in L.A.

H: So they kind of wanted a Lily Munster or an Addams family kind of thing?

C: Yeah, they were talking about Vampira, who at the time, I didn't even know was a real person. I hadn't seen her before. I since, obviously, have. Along the line of Vampira, and I was a huge Addams family freak growing up. I love the whole Morticia thing. I was trying to get the female vampire thing.

H: I'm not sure if this is all just rumor, cause I have no idea, but there have been (and I am sure there are tons of rumors about you!) rumors that you got sued for ripping off Vampira. Is that true?

C: It's true! The case got thrown out cause they said it was totally ridiculous and insane, and especially when I read an article that she had done in like the 50's saying she had based her character on Morticia Addams and the drawings of Charles Addams. Of course, the TV show hadn't come on yet, but there were drawings. She had gone to a party dressed up like Morticia and somebody said, "Oh, you'd make a great host!". Anyway, she put an ad in Variety saying "Vampira to sue Elvira. Interested parties please respond" And of course she got some lawyer somewhere who did the lawsuit. It never went to court. But I spent a lot of money cause I had to get a lawyer defending myself. So it was just a big bogus. At that point I had never even seen or met the woman. I was like, "Oh my God, There's a real person really named that?" I was in shock. I had no idea what was going on. I mean, her television series ran like 6 months on a local market in L.A., and I hate to tell you, but it was when I was like, 2 years old.

H: Well, (and obviously I am not going to print this) She's probably some poor crazy old woman who was like, "She looks like I used to loook".

C: I honestly did feel sorry for her cause she is very poor and she is really out there. But she caused me a lot of pain and suffering for many months, she was really after me. I was like, "I feel sorry for you, but this is my trip and I had no idea who you were, and I'm getting letters from Carroll Borland saying "Oh my god! Everybody bases their look on long black dress, long black hair, white skin, what the hell ya gonna do? If you get a part as a cowboy you're gonna wear a cowboy hat! Know what I mean? Not much you can do!"

H: I wonder if you could get in touch with Charles Addam's heirs and tell them that Vampira based her look on Morticia Addams and maybe you could get them to sue her.

C: Oh, if they sued her they wouldn't get anything! I've seen her, poor woman, she doesn't have any teeth. I feel sorry for her. One of my favorite movies of all time, which I didn't even realize has Vampira in it, is Plan 9 from Outer Space. She was a walking towel rack in that, but she had a cool look.

On Movie Macabre

H: Movie Macabre. What a great show. I used to get so freaked out watching that show. Even though it was all in good fun. All I do is do interviews with horror people and write articles, and Movie Macabre was one of the things that got me into horror. I would not be a huge horror fan if I hadn't had access to it. Cause we didn't have cable or anything, so if I wanted to watch a horror movie that's what I watched. Horror just wasn't on TV really. There's so much of it out there now, cause everybody's got a camera now and everybody's a filmmaker, but it owes a lot of its popularity to Movie Macabre. Do you personally like horror movies? Or was it like, "Oh my god, I can't believe I've got to actually watch this shit!"

C: NO, I was so, so into it! They couldn't have found a better person, I think. I grew up loving horror movies. My favorite movie in the world was House on Haunted Hill

H: I love the skeleton in that!

C: I love how the bones rise to the top of the oil.

H: You can almost see the strings

C: It scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. I had these recurring dreams about it for like, years. It was so bizarre because, I was in love with Vincent Price (Not like Reaaaly in love with him, but you know, he was so creepy and scary). Later when I became Elvira I had a manager that lived next door to the house where they shot House on Haunted Hill. I drove around the corner and there it was! I was like, (Elvira nasal squeaky voice)"Oh my god is this a good omen or not?" I was so into horror when I was a kid. I watched every episode of the Twilight Zone. I was a huge Addams family fan. I hated the Munsters. They were like, The Rivals. It was like, I love the Beatles so I hate the Rolling StonesReally really into horror. And I even had a group that I belonged to called "le Chien Film society" and this was before I was Elvira, we went to bad movies. Whenever we heard about a really really really crappy movie we got together and went o go see it. Like Lonely Lady starring Pia Zadora. And I was into, like Really Bad Films, and in particular horror films. It was like; it's a dream job. I was the only little girl I ever knew who collected all the model kits of Dracula and Frankenstein, (this is back in the day, like, 100 years ago).

H: I should ask you something while I have you here. Okay, I once saw an episode of Movie Macabre and there was a movie that was showing, you might not know what the hell I'm talking about, but I figure, hey, why not just ask you? I mean, you did the show.

C: Although all those films kind of run together after a while

H: I imagine so. There's this one movie where there's a little kid and a Dad and the little kid is kind of like a monster and the dad has like, locked him in the basement, and somehow the kid gets out, it's like early 70's maybe I'm thinking, and at one point the kid gets out and goes on a murder rampage, and the dad has to shoot the kid. And this stuck with me, I mean, I just remember this so clearly, the kid says (Heidi talks with a high pitched baby monster voice) "Why did you hurt me, Daddy?" and then blood pours out of his mouth and he dies. I cannot, for the life of me, remember what this movie was! And that was the end of the movie, and then right after that you came on and you made some joke about it, and I was like, "wow".

C: You mean like, "Why did you Huurrt me Daddy?" (In high pitched voice)

H: You Remember THAT! That's exactly how the kid said it.

C: I know what movie that is It was like, he was a devil, and he kind of turned into a goat!

H: YES!

C: Like he was like, Satan. Oh my god! I think it was starring Ernest Borgnine. It was called Devil's Rain.

H: Thank you sooo much! This has been, seriously, so helpful. I have asked EVERYBODY who watches these movies, and they have no idea what I am talking about.

C: I remember at the end "Why did you Huuuurrrrrt me Dadddy" and they were talking about sheep and goats and stuff. Try to find it, if its not the one, let me know, and I'll look through all my old scripts and tell you. God I remember that. That was so insane.

H: I'm so glad you remember that because I thought at one point, maybe I just made it up.

C: Oh my god that was so sick. I can't believe I can actually remember that. Cause I can't remember anything anymore, I can't like, remember what I did last night. But I remember that, so I'm doing really good.

On Women in Horror

H: Here is the part where I have to pretend to be professional. What makes Elvira different from other Scream Queens, Horror Hosts, and images of women in horror? Or is she?

C: Well, I think she's different basically because Elvira is humor. She's all about humor. And she does the whole thing tongue in cheek. Whereas, a lot of people, take themselves pretty seriously and do it pretty straightforward. Elvira is mainly a comedienne in the world of horror. Everything is funny and a joke for her.

H: The combo of the dark element with the sexiness and the humor makes Elvira a little bit unique.

H: What do you think of the term Scream Queen?

C: I actually like it. I think it sounds good together. I certainly wouldn't categorize myself as that. More like actresses in horror movies.

H: Is there a woman horror actress that you are impressed by?

C: I like all the old ones from the old movies. I can't think of her name. I should have done my homework before this, oh, and I love this woman too! She has an English accentBlack hair. Not black rain, black thunder. They're all dead now.

H: Margot Kidder is one of my favorites, even though she only made a few horror flicks.

C: I like Jamie Lee Curtis.

H: If you think of the name of yours just tell me whenever it pops into your head

(1/2 hour laterand half an interview later)

C: Barbara Steele!

H: How do you feel about women and nudity in horror? Good, bad, or do people just make way too big a deal out of it?

C: Well, it depends. I love the old vampire lesbian movies, that are really sexy and there's nudity. I don't like nudity when it's involved in violence against women in slasher films. Sex and violence, I really don't think it's a good idea making that linkSexy lesbian vampires that's different.

H: How necessary do you think it is for a woman to be sexy to make in the horror business?

C: I think sex and horror go really well together. The whole thing with vampires started it, you know, with Dracula and Brides of Dracula, sex is so involved in that dark evil, and when women are involved, they're dark and sexy I don't know, the two are inexplicably tied. I have a really time seeing a vampire woman who was not Sexy, who looks like Eleanor Roosevelt or something. It adds mystery to it.

On Bruce Campbell

H: One of the things Pretty/Scary wants to promote on the website is that every month we're going to honor a guy in the horror business, just like we are going to honor a woman every month. Except we're going to make him take his shirt off and we're going to write down his measurements and turn-ons and turn-offs and post pictures of him on the site. Basically, we're going to make it like a playgirl layout. And, we have got some men lined up and stuff. But I was wondering, is there a man you'd like to see treated this way in the horror business? It can be past or present.

C: I should have done homework before I did this!

H: I think Bruce Campbell would be great

C: That's absolutely who I was thinking! He's funny, too, you know what I mean? He's so perfect for the whole genre, I love him. He's wonderful. The Evil dead series, I love it.

H: When I email him about it, I'm going to be shameless and say, "Elvira really wants to see you on Pretty/Scary"

C: Definitely tell him, absolutely. Go for it!

H: That might help my cause a little bit.

C: Yeah, it'll help my cause too!

On what it takes to make an independent film and the research that she did to make Haunted Hills, her recent horror parody

C: I had to sit through all these old Hammer movies, my god! You're so lucky if you don't go to sleep.

H: Where can you get Haunted Hills?

C: You can get it on Elvira.com But its in stores around the country. It's a parody of all the old 70's horror movies that I grew up with; it's kind of like what Austin Powers was to old 70's spy movies. It's that whole late 60's/early 70's horror flick thing.

H: I loved Elvira Mistress of the Dark.

Wanna know what I love about it? Two things. 1) When you give the dog the makeover, with the punk rock hair and the earring 2) And also, the scene where you take off your shoe and throw it at the evil wizard guy and it sticks in his head! That was so awesome. Oh, and little baby Elvira with all her makeup on! I thought it was so fitting that Elvira had a Vegas show

C: I know, cause of her bad taste. I'm glad you liked it! I hope you'll like my new movie. It's totally different. The first one was totally character driven and all about Elvira. Haunted Hills it's about the parody. I'm really thrilled with it, I love it. We made it, financed it, produced it, did everything ourselves. So it's completely independent, that's why you don't see it plastered everywhere. Instead of like a 30 million dollar advertising budget we had like, a 150,000 advertising budget. That means no television ads, no billboards, no nothingif people like my first movie, they'll like this second movieIt's 100% independent, I mean, like REALLY independent, and we shot it in Transylvania, in Romania.

H: Anymore new stuff?

C: Elvira Slot machine!!! A taxicab driver in Las Vegas at the golden nugget won the largest payoff on a slot machine ever in history, 3 ½ million dollars, and it was an Elvira machine.

H: The symbols that have to line up on the slot machine?

C: Oh God, cauldrons, spider webs all kinds of things. The Palms casino has them, I know. They move around all over the casinos, so you have to look forward. And I have another one coming out in January.

She also has a pinball machine . And maybe an animated Elvira film?

H: What truly frightens you?

C: I'm not a very frighten-able person. Umm. Maybe doing this interview? Lol that's the kind of stuff that scares me, and having to put on all that makeup, and that dress!

H: I would love to be Elvira for Halloween, but I just don't have the boobs

Cassandra's answer?

C: Put the dress on backwards and then pretend like you have really low cleavage.

I Love Elvira. I mean Cassandra. She is not only my hero, but she's pretty fucking funny too, and I like funny women.

Visit Elvira's Website, and for fuck's sake, buy Haunted Hills!

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