31 Days of Halloween: Elvira

REASON NUMBER SIX: ELVIRA

Speaking of Halloween staples Elvira has always reminded me of Halloween. You could see her in the grocery stores, her cardboard cutout on a beer advert as common in the beer aisle as candy corn was in the candy aisle. You can’t really ignore her, with her Morticia Adams dress, bouffant hairstyle and enormous tracks of land that rival Dolly Parton. And she hasn’t changed since the time I was a kid either despite the fact that her cardboard cutouts are no longer at the local Albertsons. One of the reasons I also really love Elvira is because she was my horror movie watching buddy when I was a teenager. None of my family likes horror films, but I have always loved them even when they scared me to death (I once watched Nightmare on Elm Street with my babysitter and her boyfriend and was then petrified of water bed for a week. Poltergeist well…Poltergeist had me afraid of everything). I remember sneaking downstairs to watch late night horror schlock when I thought my parents wouldn’t notice. Many of these were from Elvira’s late night show. Thanks to her I watched such gems as Monstroid. Her schtick was great: horrible puns, sexual innuendo and dreadful slapstick. She was like the Cryptkeeper but with really big breasts, always commenting on the film that you were watching together which many times were just as dreadful. But she wasn’t taking herself seriously.

I cant help but think of her when I think of Halloween. How about you?