HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY, ELVIRA!

Seventy-five years old

September 17, 2026

ELVIRA'S COOKBOOK FROM HELL

Pairing a cleaver with her cleavage, Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) will be releasing her COOKBOOK FROM HELL at the end of September. What's next, her own cooking show on the Food Network?

From the publisher:

New York Times bestselling memoirist and pop culture icon Cassandra Peterson, as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, delivers the definitive guide to ghoulish hosting all year round.

Hello darling, it’s me, Elvira—the afterlife of the party—here to bring the “Hell” to your next Hell-raising gathering! Ready to unleash your inner party monster? Well, I’m here to prove that the devil is in the details. Shock your fiends with sinister snacks, demonically delicious dishes, and cocktails so wickedly good they’ll make your head spin! But this isn’t just a cookbook—think of it as your Necronomicom of party planning. Between these pages lies everything you’ll need to make your next get-together a graveyard smash!

From a “Beastly Bloody Brunch” to a “Romantic Graveside Picnic” to a “Creepy Cocktail Party” to “Having Your Friends for Dinner”—Elvira's Cookbook from Hell is a volume bound to raise any party from the dead!

Pages: 224 pages

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Release Date: September 30, 2025

ISBN-13: 9780306832864

Edition: Autographed Hardcover Bookplated Edition

Retail price: Varies depending on edition.

EARLY ELVIRA INTERVIEW

It didn't take long after the September 26, 1981 premiere of ELVIRA'S MOVIE MACABRE hit the airwaves (when you could still get plenty of analogue stations with a simple antenna) on L.A.'s KHJ-TV for it to be a hit. Played by ex-showgirl Cassandra Peterson, her tongue-in-cheek humor, delivered with a Valley Girl-speak affectation and of course, her remarkable cleavage which she was not afraid to show or crack fun at (no pun intended) kept viewers coming back every week for her hosting of another B-movie horror film.

Just a couple of years later she was interviewed in the "Style" section of the LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER (January 18, 1983), where she talks about her career thus far and her new-found success as Mistress of the Dark.

As you might guess, I was a big fan of her looks and humor, and she did -- initially at first -- show some pretty good films, including a lot from Corman's catalog and decent low-budget movies like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. She would often break into the film and inject her jokes about whatever was playing, just like her predecessor, Seymour (Larry Vincent). I believe I bought the edition of the EXAMINER just for these two pages.

VAMPIRELLA'S LITTLE SISTER

Riffing on Warren's title VAMPIRELLA, Hugh Gallagher's DRACULINA was focused on the sexy side of horror films and their female stars. This "Fear-Book" from 1992 showcases the (visual) talents of the voluptuous Bobbie Bresee and Hilary Lipton. Also included are features on Herschel Gordon Lewis, Playboy Playmates who appeared in horror films and necrophilia in the movies, as well as nude shots of Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, Mathilda "Lifeforce" May and others. The magazine suffers from poor quality printing and photo reproductions, but Gallagher's heart was in the right place.