NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Video Blu-ray (July 2020): Arrow Video have transferred Cassandra Peterson's super fun Elvira: Mistress of the Dark to Blu-ray. The 1080P transfer is on a dual-layered disc with a high bitrate - almost 6X that of the 2001 DVD. It's a remarkable leap in image quality showing grain texture, notably more information in the frame, it is brighter, colors shift from pale orange to red - it's a significant upgrade and the HD presentation is consistent. clean and looks solid in-motion. It is advertised as as a "Brand new restoration from a 4K scan of original film elements". 

NOTE: We have added 62 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow Video use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio and score by is credited to orchestrator James B. Campbell, but more notable may be the sampling of Joanna St. Claire's I Put a Spell on You, Lori Chacko's Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Jess Harnell's Town Without Pity, Cassandra herself performing Here I Am, Michael Sembello's Maniac and some may recognize Dvorak's New World Symphony. It's another significant upgrade via the uncompressed audio transfer. Arrow Video offer optional English subtitles (SDH) on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Arrow Video Blu-ray has the archival audio commentary with actors Cassandra Peterson, Edie McClurg and writer John Paragon - which is till fun and shows Cassandra's warmth and humor. There is also an introduction to the film by director James Signorelli and two further commentaries from 2017 - with Elvira Webmaster and judge of US TV show The Search for the Next Elvira Patterson Lundquist and the third with with director James Signorelli, hosted by Fangoria Editor Emeritus Tony Timpone. Running longer than the feature is Too Macabre - The Making of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark - newly-revised 2018 version of this feature-length documentary on the making of the film including interviews with various cast and crew and rare never-before-seen archival material. It has Tony Angellotti, Yancy Calzada, Sam Egan, Susan Kellermann, Cassandra Peterson and others. It is quite good. Also included Recipe for Terror: The Creation of the Pot Monster - a newly-revised 2018 version of this featurette on the concept and design of the pot monster, as well as the other SFX of the movie. There are extensive image galleries with original storyboards etc. plus theatrical and teaser trailers. The package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck.

Cassandra Peterson is amazing - she carved out such a unique and lovable niche. It's one that is universally appreciated by film fans. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark should have had a sequel or entire movie series - it has held up so well. Elvira is absurdly sexy, cute and fun - built around an homage is horror cinema - both cheesy and scary. I really know few people who didn't enjoy the heck out of this - I've rewatched it may times myself. Great to have it on the vastly superior Blu-ray a/v and the multitude of extras including the three commentaries and feature-length 'making of'. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze