A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

If you're so inclined, have a sip every time: a lady screams at something - Elvira's breasts are the punchline of a joke - somebody falls down/over - somebody is being overtly dramatic and then abruptly interrupted - you see a deliberately crappy prop or special effectSummarily, the movie is a parody of classic Hammer and Universal films, especially the ones loosely based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. If you liked 'Dracula - Dead and Loving It' and/or the Elvira character, you will also like this. All good fun.

Her creation of the bouffant-haired, wise-cracking, and sexed-up "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" put Cassandra Peterson on the map, and she's had a memorable career playing the character in more venues than you can count. But where her first big-screen effort ELVIRA MISTRESS OF THE DARK was a truly funny film with a good script, good cast, and good production values, ELVIRA'S HAUNTED HILLS is pretty much a bust from start to finish--and I don't mean Peterson's justly celebrated figure.HAUNTED HILLS is, in theory at least, a send-up of Roger Corman's so-called 'Edgar Allen Poe Films'--a series of ultra-cheap 1960s flicks very loosely suggested by various Poe stories and poems. But sad to say, HAUNTED HILLS is not even as good as the films it pokes fun at. The production values are ultra-cheap, the cast is largely no-name and noticeably untalented, and the script has all the comic effect of roadkill.But the major attraction here, of course, is Elvira herself. Sad to say, the camera man and the lighting designer seem to go out of their way to catch Peterson from angles and in unflattering light that shows her advancing years--but even so, Peterson continues to wear the character extremely well; when well-photographed her face retains considerable youth, no one could ever argue with her physical charms, and the gets more than you might expect out of this extremely lackluster script. Richard O'Brien (of ROCKY HORROR fame) also scores a few chuckles as one of the several suspicious characters that plague Elvira during her stay in the mysterious castle. But even so, it's all very, very thin stuff, a disservice to both Peterson and the character she has created. Recommended for hardcore Elvira fans only.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Elvira's Haunted Hills is the long awaited sequel to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, or not considering it's lacking in continuity and Elvira's back in 1851 where she sticks out like a couple of tomatoes in mashed potatoes. The movie might actually be a reference to her figure, though, as there's no haunts but a thick Hammer Movies-like atmosphere. Considering the modern references, it might just as well have happened in the present. Elvira is ageless in this and looks even more vampire-like with a black cape added to her attire. Mary Scheer from MAD TV is on hand in a limited role and Robert O'Brien ambles looking bored but having fun in this. (I hate The Rocky Horror show as should any horror purist, but O'Brien is still a respected actor none the less.) The movie exteriors were filmed on location around Sighisoara, Romania, the birthplace of Vlad Tepes for a matter of trivia, and the interior castle scenes are interesting enough for a second look. Dedicated to the memories of two great actors, Phil Hartman and Vincent Price, the movie does have a big budget look despite the actual low budget of the film, but its not as funny as I had hoped it would be. A more Mel Brooks/Monty Python direction would have worked. There's several funny lines and one-liners which Elvira rattles off effortlessly along with plot points and references stolen from other movies. Along the way, the movie just gets more surreal and turns into a parody of itself. In all, the movie is not as good as Elvira's first movie. Maybe her appeal has waned since the Eighties to anyone who is not a die hard fan as I am. I'd still want to see a third Elvira film and even more like to be able to have a hand in being in it as well.

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.