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http://www.fangoria.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1840:elvira-talks-the-return-of-movie-macabre&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=167)
The new incarnation of Cassandra Peterson’s classic horror-hostess show, ELVIRA’S MOVIE MACABRE (premiering the week of September 25 on syndicated stations across the U.S.), is a dream come true for horror fans who grew up with her sexy goofiness on their TVs. After a long, frustrating battle that has seen two films (ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK and ELVIRA’S HAUNTED HILLS), one reality show (THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT ELVIRA) and a few failed attempts along the way, Peterson has gotten MOVIE MACABRE back on for what her followers are hoping is a long second run.
Back in the 1980s, every Saturday night was time for a new MOVIE MACABRE. The movies were bad—almost unwatchable at times—but sometimes they were truly creepy. You could always count on a weird vampire movie from Italy, or an obscure low-budget monster flick from the 1960s—or even worse. But the shows were always funny. Elvira used her sexuality and humor to teach us how to appreciate the finer (low) points of B-cinema, and appreciating films like these is much easier with someone like Elvira showing you how it’s done. Some of the movies she showed have stayed with this writer forever (even though I still can’t figure out what some of them were, even after asking her—she doesn’t remember either!), monstrous obscurities that exist only as images and fun but horrific memories (though some of her shows can be seen on DVD from Shout! Factory). That’s Elvira to everyone who grew up watching the first run of MOVIE MACABRE—and she gave little girls everywhere the revelation that they could be sexy and funny, and that it was fun to watch horror movies. It’s hard not to love Elvira.
The new season, currently filming, will showcase 26 movies, ranging from such classic turkeys as THE CREEPING TERROR, TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE and THE GIANT GILA MONSTER to the odd classic like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Peterson, who tells Fango she’s “thrilled” about MOVIE MACABRE’s resurrection, will begin the first episode by explaining Elvira’s 20-year absence and showing her beloved audience the 1968 George A. Romero classic. “I love it,” Peterson says. “Its pretty serious and I think it’s really good filmmaking, but it has enough things about it that I can still play around with.
“I am concentrating 100 percent of my energy on this TV show; I have a lot riding on it, figuratively and literally,” continues the actress, also visible this year without Elvira’s makeup in the campy fright film ALL ABOUT EVIL. And she has some noteworthy collaborators on the new MOVIE MACABRE: Jack White contributed Elvira’s new theme song, and artist Gris Grimly designed the opening sequence. Peterson says she’s aiming to make the candid, funny, Valley Girl-ish Elvira more appealing to younger viewers, since the college-aged crowd that loved her so much the first time around “are all dying off, and I have to get new college students to watch! I am trying to make it a little bit more for the youth market, and change things up with better sets, putting a little more money into it, changing my logo, my hair…just a few things. But most of all, it’s goofy comedy. Kids and younger people will really appreciate that.”
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean it’ll be a “kids’ show” as such—but if your kid happens to watch it, they’ll probably fall in love with it, and her, the way this writer did when she was a budding horror fanatic without a remote control and armed only with Beta tapes. Awesomely demented characters like The Breather will return, and Peterson promises plenty of camp, fun and silliness for serious horror lovers who need a little respite from the violent, gory and often disturbing aspects of their hobby. You can catch the new season on THIS! Television as well as KDOC in Los Angeles, WCIU in Chicago, WATL/WXIA in Atlanta, WBGN in Pittsburgh and other stations. Check your local listings so you know where to tune in, or when to TiVo, and look for more on Elvira and the new MOVIE MACABRE in Fango #297, on sale in October.
