Elvira's Haunted Hills

Title - Elvira's Haunted Hills
Language - English
Genre - Horror, comedy

Elvira’s haunted hills is the second film outing for Cassandra Peterson’s Elvira but it is not a sequel to Elvira mistress of the dark.

Set in 1851 Elvira and her assistant Zou Zou are traveling through the Carpathian Mountains on the way to put on a show in Paris.  Out of money the two have to run form an inn and find themselves stranded on the road.  A coach stops to pick them up after the other passenger, Dr Bradley Bradley recognizes Elvira from her promo posters..

Doctor Bradley is on his way to one of his patients who let Elvira stay the night with the doctor promising to take them away the next morning.  As soon as Elvira enters castle Hellsubus lady Hellsubus sees her and runs screaming and this is the reaction she gets from most of the residents the first time they meet her.

Elvira is told that she is the spitting image of Lord Vladimere Hellsubus’ first wife, Elura who died in mysterious circumstances.  

The members of the Hellsubus family believe that they are cursed never to be able to leave the castle and, it is this that lead to Elura’s death.  The curse also manifests itself in other ways in some of the family members,  Vladimere has sensitive hearing and vision and his niece, Roxanna keeps fainting.

Doctor Bradley is called away to treat the plague in the next village stranding Elvira and Zou Zou in castle Hellsubus and with Vladimere’s insanity growing will any of them get out alive.

Elvira’s Haunted Hills is a spoof of the old ‘Hammer Horror’ films and is even dedicated to Vincent Price.  It has all the trappings of the haunted house style of film  from the creepy castle to the Dracula like Lord Vladimere.  The film is played of laughs and is definitely more of a comedy than Mistress of the Dark which keeps it’s humor dark.  The jokes range from cleavage/boob jokes to Elvira spouting anachronisms which, until you get used to them can throw the flow of the film.

As the film is a parody the acting is over the top with a great performance from Richard O'Brien as Lord Vladimere Hellsubus.  we get lots of sneaky looks to the camera with Elvira even addressing it in one scene.  the character of Adrian the Stable Stud has an English voice over dubbed on to his own in homage of the dubbed foreign films of the past.

Elvira’s Haunted Hills has a few things in common with Mistress of the dark, Elvira is trying to put on a show, she has no money and of course there are plenty of cleavage but it  is a noticeably different film from Mistress of the Dark in tone and story.  It is, however still a fun and enjoyable film so give it a watch after all it’s not every day you see Richard O'Brien's over acting stand out more than Elvira.  

Shock Treatment

Title - Shock Treatment
Language - English
Genre - Horror, Musical

when I was younger there were rumours of a sequel to 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' this sequel was even rumored to have a title 'The Return Of The Queen B' but, try as i might i could not find this film. I had forgoten about the fabeled sequel, believing it just to be an urban myth then, one day whilst fliking through cable chanels I found myself on a film staring Richard O'Brian, it was a musical and was focusing on a woman named Janet, there was also a man in a wheelchair in a cage named Brad. As it went on there were other Rocky Horror cast members, this was deffinatly a Rocky Horror sequel but it was no Queen B, this was Shock Treatment.

At the start of Shock Treatment we find Brad and Janet, now married and finally back in their home town of Denton. Then whole town are either the stars or the audeance in Dtv the TV station of the town. Brad and Janet are called to take part in a show called Marriage Maze which starts with the couple taking about any problems they are having in their relationship where find out that Janet thinks Brad is a bit boring (understandable when you look at what they went through in Rocky Horror, who can compete with Frank-N-Furter) so brad is taken off by the two local Psychiatrists DR Cosmo McKinley (Richard O’Brian) and his sister Dr Nation McKinley (Patricia Quinn) whilst Janet is taken under the wing of Dtv’s host the blind Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries). As the film progresses we see Brad drugged and locked away as Janet is groomed to be the new face of Dtv by Bret and the new owner of Dtv Farley Flavors whilst Betty Hapschatt (Ruby Wax) the former host of Dtv’s morning show and Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray) race to find out what Farley’s secret is and what he plans to do with Dtv.

For a film that is only a PG rating shock Treatment is quite dark. As Janet gets more popular we follow her descent into madness which is not helped by the meddling form Farley and the manipulation of the two doctors. The corridors of the ‘Marriage maze’ play a big part as people get lost or find their way out of them depending on their mental state. In some ways Shock Treatment is darker than Rocky Horror, in Rocky horror the threat is there in the form of Frank-N-Furter and Riff Raff but in Shock Treatment Brad & Janet are being manipulated from behind the scenes by Farley & it’s not apparent what his plans are so we are being drawn more into the psychological state of the characters mind

Some would argue that Shock Treatment is only a sequel to Rocky Horror in name as most of the Rocky Horror characters are not in it but, as good a character Frank-N-Furter is there is only so much that can be done with him and with this in mind I think that Shock Treatment is a better follow up than the fabled ‘Return of the Queen B’ could ever have been.

Shock Treatment is also a film that stands up on its own, you don’t need any knowledge of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to watch and enjoy it but if you do then you will get the little nod’s towards it, the returning cast often use phrases that their Rocky Horror characters would have used, props are reused, characters that were mentioned in Rocky Horror appear in Shock Treatment (Brad & Janet are at the wedding of ralph and Betty Hapschatt at the beginning of Rocky Horror) and Richard O’Brian & Patricia Quinn again play a brother and sister who are a little too close. As stated earlier Shock Treatment is quite a dark film but does have a similar feel as Rocky Horror, instead of the ‘Transylvanians’ there is the studio audience and some of the songs are quite lively and jolly. Unlike Rocky Horror, where we are introduced to Frank-N-Furter quite early Shock Treatment builds on the tension letting you wonder what will happen to Brad, what are the doctors up to, who is Farley? But there are also the same themes as Rocky Horror, will Janet succumb to temptation, this time of fame and can either of them escape the traps they have fallen into.

Over all Shock Treatment is an enjoyably film even if it didn’t reach the cult heights of Rocky Horror, it has a good cast, with a surprisingly good and creepy performance form Barry Humphries, Shock Treatment also has a good soundtrack, the songs are not as memorable as that of the Rocky Horror Picture Show but the nature of Shock Treatment does not need such big dance numbers as ‘the Time Warp’. With a good story line, a good sound track and more panty shots than some anime I could mention Shock Treatment is definitely worth a shot.