I recently had the privilege to check out the latest DVD release of ELVIRA’S MOVIE MACABRE, a double feature DVD taken from Elvira’s hit horror hosting show from back in the early 1980s. Sitting through crappy movies has been more fun, and it really got me missing shows like Elvira’s, and Joe Bob Brigg’s, both putting the fun back in movies on TV.
As you may know, Fox Reality is rocking a new reality series this October called ‘The Search for the Next Elvira’, which is much like American Idol, as contestants from all over must compete to become… you’ve guess it… the next Elvira! Not that there’s anything wrong with the original, played by Cassandra Peterson, but let’s face it… she was in her prime over 25 years ago, so it’s time to pass on the black dress and tacky puns to someone else.
STYD had a chance to sit down with Elvira and chat about the state of hosted horror on TV these days, and the new show. Here’s just a snippet of what she had to say: Horror hosts have sorta gone away, and even I went away, because I couldn’t get the movies anymore, they were all bought up by the big studios. They were expensive. When I was hosting horror movies, they pay you to take the damn things. You’d find one in somebody’s basement and they’d be like, Take it, use it, anything. Then it all got bought up by the studios and it’d go into their libraries and sold as big packages – two horror films, six detective films and a cowboy film. And the people doing horror movies didn’t need those other 28 films.
It sure is a damn shame, but it’s the truth… Ah well, hopefully this show will kick-start a new fan base, and at least one channel will pick it up and start the horror hosted on TV trend again. To check out the full interview, as well as a few shots of the contests of ‘The Search for the Next Elvira’, click HERE, and keep your eyes peeled on Fox Reality, as the show premieres on Saturday, October 13th!