Elvira Took Vampira's Act! - Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) Discussion

Vampira and Elvira are pretty different. Cassandra plays Elvira almost like a Gothic valley girl.

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They are extremely different. Are we to say that no other actress is to wear a black dress as a Vampiress or goth chick ever again because some embittered old woman got jealous? Because that is where their similarities end my friend.

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[–] exodus_laughing 19 years ago

"Gothic valley girl"

lofl.. wow. never thought about her like that but.. yes.. totally.

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[–] fullonrobotchubby 19 years ago

Vampira - thriller genre
Elvira - comedy genre

Since Vampira actually tried to sue, I guess we know for sure which one has the sense of humor.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] TangibleDreams 18 years ago

Movie Macabre, Elvira's show had NOTHING to do with Vampira. Cassandra was cast to star as the hostess after the MALE host of the show died. They retitled the show and Cassandra was cast and the day of filming the name Elvira was drawn from a coffee can. The rest is history. Vampira had absolutely NOTHING to do with it.

"Maybe I'll dress up as you and we can really confuse people!"-Cassandra Peterson

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[–] Akzidenz_Grotesk 17 years ago

Oh yeah..the "coffee can theory"... what a laff.

Even if she didn't know about Vampira early on, which I doubt since Petersen is a shrewd businessperson, she could have at least extended a hand in friendship or acknowledged Vampira's legacy. Instead she milks it to the max as a rip-off act that is highly unfunny and shopworn.

I always skip Elvira intros on DVDs and tapes because I want to see the MOVIE not her dumb monologues.

www.oilcrashmovie.com
"Stick the Friar Tuck act up your a#$!"--DeNiro

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[–] jrsl88 16 years ago

I learned that at the end of Ed Wood.

The rowers keep on rowing & they're certainly not showing any signs that they are slowing!

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[–] exodus_laughing 16 years ago

I always skip Elvira intros on DVDs and tapes because I want to see the MOVIE not her dumb monologues.

...*looks to the left*....*looks to the right*....*looks you directly in the eye*...
so you say... you buy/rent elvira hosted movies..... to watch.. the movie?
.. a movie... a movie that ELVIRA is hosting?... you want to watch a movie.. the kind of movie hosted by ELVIRA???..... hmmmm... right...
right well... i think i know what to do with the rest of your opinion..

*walks away*

.

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[–] Waterfairy 16 years ago

I know who Vampira was, I actually just saw them talking about her on the Boris Karlof biography. I never saw her host a show so I can't compare her and Elvira but isn't it a little like comparing Lily and Morticia?

They were both "housewives", took care of their families, loved their husbands and had long dark hair.

Vampira may have been around first, but nobody compares to Elvira. She takes "camp" to the perfect level. She is funny without being silly or stupid.

It's called a llaaaannce--Hellooooo

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[–] nickedoff12 15 years ago

I used to militantly believe the same thing (That Elvira conned Vampira out of her act), but then I realized the extreme differences in the characters.

Vampira's act deals with a lot more campy "spookiness" (her jokes might be considered better suited for Halloween) while Elvira's wordplay is mainly sexual and makes quite a few more references to modern culture. Elvira's a vixen while Vampira is more of a vamp.

That pun was in no way intended.

and there were quite a few ways it could have been intended.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] DrmWmn 15 years ago

I agree. I consider them different. Vampira was more dark and gothic. A lot more serious like Peter Vincent in Fright Night. Elivira is a sexy goof ball dressed in macabre wear.

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[–] puirt-a-beul 14 years ago

When I was a wee kid, here in Australia we used to have Vampira on TV really late on Friday and Saturday nights, and I used to love watching her, and the movies she presented. I used to have to pretend I was asleep, waiting for my parents to go to bed so I could sneak into the living room and watch her. And then a real dilemma arose: the rival commercial TV station cooked up a competition program which they aired in the same timeslot (curse them!), but this one with a male presenter - a Frankenstein knock-off, named "Deadly Earnest". Where Vampira tried to be creepy, Earnest did bad jokes - very like Elvira, actually, but without the sexy vamping, natch - and did an over-the-top imitation of Boris Karloff's voice and manner of speech. He used to arrive at the TV station in a coffin in the back of a theatrical-looking hearse, natch, and be carried onto the set by two Igor-type assistants who always had mishaps - they'd drop the coffin and it would slide off down the hill and end up getting washed down a storm drain, or picked up by a garbage truck ... the kind of stuff a wee kid with a passion for lame humour and horror films would lap up, of course.

And then along came Elvira, and it was like Christmas. I've been a fan ever since, and for me she can do no wrong. Yeah, I loved Vampira, and she's a slightly bizarre part of horror film history on TV, but for my money Elvira really nailed it.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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[–] worldofbong 13 years ago

Technically she did kind of take the act.. the producers developed the show with Vampira who later backed out, so they looked for a replacement that could deliver a similar type of performance

On pure copyright terms I don't think Vampira had much of a case though.. it's a very basic character and they made enough changes to make it unique. You can't really copyright an idea, just the details

or maybe not, lol http://www.amazon.com/Horror-Rock-Stories-Hendrix-ebook/dp/B004HFRKLG

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] LightningLad 13 years ago

Maila should have simply used Elvira's popularity to boost her own exposure, rather than suing. She may have felt Elvira "ripped her off", but the other way to look at it is that Cassandra kept horror hostesses in the spotlight. Without someone like Elvira being around, would the later generations have had a way to hear about Vampira? What kind of performer doesn't hope to have some impact on later generations?

And it's not like Vampira invented her look. Charles Addams did that. Elvira played off the archetype by adding the trailer park bouffant and the kitschy slang and the one-liners, and rather than having an ominous persona, instead she looks ominous but has a regular girl personality. Vampira maintained a certain mystique as part of her act, Elvira was all about not having a mystique.

-----
Reason is a pursuit, not a conclusion.

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[–] zombihntr 13 years ago

I've been hearing this for years and I don't buy it. I'm not old enough to have seen Vampira's show (I would love to though) but Cassandra's act was so entrenched in "valley girl" culture that I can't imagine them being that similar, from what I've heard their styles were very different.

They look very much alike, but if that's enough to say "lawsuit" then shouldn't Charles Addams have sued Vampira for ripping off Morticia Addams? They are comediennes, their "act" would be their material, not their dress and big hair. As far as I know Cassandra (along with a few collaborators probably) writes her own material.

Perhaps Vampira was a little bitter seeing another horror hostess with the Morticia look getting famous when she herself never really got THAT big. Understandable, but I think that's all it is.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] DesperateHouseboy 12 years ago

I've never even heard of Vampira!

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[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 12 years ago

This was The Controversy of the 1970's, wasn't it? Does ANYBODY really care today? Or if you do care, do you really think it can be settled, one way or another, to anyone's satisfaction at this late date? Time to move on, people.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae

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[–] ElectricWarlock 12 years ago

I like both Vampira and Elvira. I can't choose one over the other. I do think it's sad that Maila Nurmi died before they could ever resolve their conflict, though.

Come, fly the teeth of the wind. Share my wings.

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[–] Cobra1986 12 years ago

Elvira always prides herself on being somewhat "white trash" and that's what I like about her. Yeah, both Elvira & Vampira are Gothic movie hosting women who are more or less famous in part because of the boobs thing. But once you view both of them you realize there's a huge difference between both. I don't think Vampira was ripped off...

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