Film / Elvira's Haunted Hills

"Evil. Terror. Lust. Some girls really know how to party!"

Elvira and her maid ZouZou are en route to perform in the Parisian Revue `Yes I Can Can' but inadvertently end up at the sinister Lord Vladimere Hellsubus' medieval castle. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Vladimere's long-dead wife, Elvira learns of the Hellsubus curse and finds her life in danger. The film was released on June 23, 2001.

Elvira's Haunted Hills provides examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Elvira attracts two in Dr. Bradley Bradley, who makes many sexual innuendos at her and is always groping her when he has the chance. And Lord Hellsubus, who believes she is his dead wife Elura. Much to Elvira's discomfort.
• Affectionate Parody: Of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, with the plot essentally being Elvira dropped smack-dab in the middle of House of Usher.
• And I Must Scream: After being caught in her infidelity, Elura was chained and left screaming for help as Lord Hellsubus buried her behind a brick wall as punishment. Lady Ema's fate as she is left screaming for someone to save her from being locked up in an iron maiden while Dr. Bradley Bradley leaves her behind.
• Asshole Victim: After what Lord Hellsubus done to his first wife and brother, and what Lady Ema Hellsubus and Dr. Bradley Bradley done to Lord Hellsubus and Elvira, it's only fitting to watch them suffer terrible deaths. Lord Hellsubus being blinded and bisected by his own pendulum, Dr. Bradley Bradley being crushed between the broken stairway pillars and Lady Ema Hellsubus lefts screaming for help inside an iron maiden with no chance of rescue.
• Awful Wedded Life: Lord Vladimire Hellsubus and Lady Ema Hellsubus don't look to be happily married as he still mourns the loss of his first wife Elura. They even sleep in separate chamber rooms.
• Big Guy Rodeo: When Lord Hellsubus attacks Elvira in the torture chamber, Roxana leaps onto his back and attempts to claw his eyes out.
• Bedroom Adultery Scene: Flashbacks show that Elura and her brother-in-law Nicholai were about to have sex when her husband Lord Hellsubus caught them.
• Big Bad: Lord Hellsubus, who killed his wife and brother for their infidelity, attempted to bury his niece alive and keep everyone including Elvira and Zou Zou from leaving Castle Hellsubus alive.
• Big "NO!": Lord Hellsubus screams this when he first sees Elvira, thinking that she is his late wife Elura.
• Bittersweet Ending: Roxanna and Adrian die in the castle, but the evil Lord Vladimire Hellsubus, Lady Ema Hellsubus, and Dr. Bradley Bradley perish inside the crumbling Hellsubus castle and Elvira and Zou Zou manage to escape with their lives intact and the spirit of Elura is finally free. Then Elvira and Zou Zou hitch a ride on a stagecoach that delivers a dark truth about castle Hellsubus and they're left confused and horrified as the stagecoach driver is revealed to be Lord Hellsubus.
• Bungled Hypnotism: When Dr. Bradley Bradley uses hypnosis on Elvira to get close to her, he didn't count on the ghostly spirit of Elura possessing her and speaking through her. Frightening Dr. Bradley Bradley, Lady Ema Hellsubus, Roxana and Zou Zou at the dinner table.
• Buried Alive: Elvira in her nightmare in the film's opening. Elura's fate as she is chained up and buried alive behind a brick wall by her husband Lord Hellsubus for her infidelity.
• Catapult Nightmare: In the opening, Elvira bolts upright from her sleep after having a nightmare about being buried alive behind a brick wall in a haunted castle.
• Contrived Coincidence: The stagecoach accompanying Dr. Bradley Bradley on its way to Castle Hellsubus just happens to make a stop for Elvira and Zou Zou.
• Creepy Cemetery: Elvira encounters Lord Hellsubus in one where he is despondent over his Hellsubus family graves being desecrated. Lady Elura is buried in the Hellsubus family plot. Turns out her coffin is empty.
• Death Trap: The torture chamber, the iron maiden and the pit and the pendulum.
• Delicious Distraction: While escaping from their landlord, Zou Zou spots a large blood sausage meat and takes it with her.
• Disaster Dominoes: While struggling to take off her shoes, Elvira knocks over a vase and then lands on a chair which steps on a black cat's tail causing it to yowl. Then tosses one shoe which accidentally hits a butler causing him to drop noisy silverware. Then Zou Zou helps Elvira remove the last shoe, which causes Zou Zou to accidentally stumble forward and crash into a large cymbal. Ema and Bradley Bradley cringe silently as they know for sure that their master must already be alerted and disturbed by the ruckus Elvira made.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Zou Zou and the stagecoach driver end up making out, leading to the stagecoach to suffer a few speed bumps as a result.
• Disney Villain Death: After the terrible things they've done, Lord Hellsubus gets blinded and killed by his own pendulum, Dr. Bradley Bradley gets crushed between the broken crumbling stairs trying to steal the Hellsubus jewels, and Lady Ema Hellsubus is bleeding inside a locked up iron maiden and left screaming for help as the castle Hellsubus crumbles.
• Dragon Ascendant: After Lord Hellsubus' supposed defeat, Lady Ema Hellsubus and Dr. Bradley Bradley emerge with their plan to take over Castle Hellsubus as partners and lovers.
• Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Lord Hellsubus hallucinates for a moment and thinks that Elvira is his late wife Elura or at least a reincarnation of her.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Elvira first meets Adrian, he's cleansing a gun by stroking it up and down with a small towel in his lap. Lampshaded hilariously by Elvira who tells him to "be careful or that thing might go off in your hand".
• Double Entendre:
  • The film's title is not just a reference to a haunted castle in the hills but also a pun on Elvira's breasts.
  • When Adrian finally bursts through the locked door to the torture chamber, a already freed Elvira tells him "Adrian, you came too late!...again.".
• Driven to Madness: Lord Hellsubus, who hallucinated thinking that his first wife Elura was still alive. Elura was actually dead and an unresting spirit trapped in the castle but Lady Ema Hellsubus and her lover Dr. Bradley Bradley did plan to drive her husband Lord Hellsubus to madness all along. And it worked unfortunately.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Elvira and Lady Elura.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When Elvira asks why Adrian is insistent on saving Lady Ema Hellsubus after everything she has done to them, Adrian reveals that Ema is his illegitimate half-sister.
• A Family Affair: Elura was having an affair with Lord Hellsubus' brother Nicholai behind his back. Lord Hellsubus was not happy when he found out.
• Fanservice: Adrian's open shirts exposing his chest. At one point, he is shirtless and welding some horseshoes. Plenty of the film's shots focus or emphasize on Elvira's cleavage. Then there's the steamy flashback of Elura and Nicholai having a passionate affair prior to their deaths.
• Femme Fatale: Lady Ema Hellsubus, who was behind the evil plan to drive her husband Lord Hellsubus to insanity all along and planned to elope with her lover Dr. Bradley Bradley.
• Finger-Twitching Revival: As everyone mourns Roxana for her untimely demise, Lord Hellsubus sees her move her hand to swat a fly off her nose. Lord Hellsubus is aware that Roxana is actually alive but he closes the coffin door anyway for evil reasons.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Elvira's nightmare in the opening of being held captive and tortured in a haunted castle.
  • Elvira's nightmare where she is buried alive behind a brick wall foreshadows Elura's real deadly fate.
  • Lord Hellsubus strangling Elvira during his blackouts. This is because he actually murdered his first wife Elura and still harbors some resentment due to her infidelity.
• Funbag Airbag: A literal example: A bumpy carriage ride results in a guy being catapulted into Elvira's chest!
• Gaslighting: By the end, Lady Ema Hellsubus and her lover Dr. Bradley Bradley are guilty of driving Lord Hellsubus to madness in their evil plan.
• Genre Savvy: Elvira goes for the cause of the mysterious noise in the castle, she looks for the secret door, lampshading how they always have them.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Elvira slaps Lord Hellsubus across the face when he starts getting hammy over grave robbers desecrating his Hellsubus family tombs searching for Hellsubus family jewels and why must they suffer more.
• The Glomp: When Adrian tells Elvira that he blames the Hellsubus curse for Lady Elura's death, Elvira uses that as an excuse to give him a great big hug and hold him for a long time due to her attraction towards him.
• Groin Attack: Elvira delivers one to Lord Hellsubus when he temporarily blacks out and attempts to strangle her, mistaking her for his dead wife.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Roxana attacks and fends off her evil uncle Lord Hellsubus so that Elvira can escape.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Elvira and Zou Zou. They bicker constantly and are almost always together. They even sleep in the same bed.
• Hong Kong Dub: Everybody talks normally except for one badly-dubbed character named Adrian (the character's actor spoke in romanian and the english voice actor for the dubbing is Rob Paulsen). Lampshaded when Elvira turns to the camera to ask, "How does he do that?"
• I Ate WHAT?!: Elvira stops Lady Ema Hellsubus and her servent and tastes something out of a bowl mistakenly believing it to be mutton stew. She then coughs, saying that somebody went a little heavy on the Tabasco sauce, before Lady Ema Hellsubus tells her that was actually her husband's chamberpot she just tasted. Cue the Oh, Crap! look on Elvira's face afterwards.
• If I Can't Have You…: Lord Hellsubus did not take it well when he caught his first wife Elura and his brother Nicholai having an affair together and he stabbed his brother and buried his first wife alive behind a brick wall as punishment.
• It's All About Me: Elvira throws a fit when their ride to leave the castle Dr. Bradley Bradley is busy treating people in the village dying of the plague and retorts "some people are so selfish!".
• Ironic Echo Cut: Dr. Bradley Bradley banging on the roof of the stagecoach ride, asking the stagecoach driver if he is making out all right. Smash Cut to Zou Zou and the stagecoach still busy making out while driving.
• It Was Here, I Swear!: Lord Hellsubus panics when he sees Lady Elura's ghost haunting him in the castle but when he alerts the others about it, they see nothing and believe he is being delusional.
• Large Ham: Lady Ema Hellsubus really emphasizes her words when describing Lord Hellsubus' noise sensitivity to Elvira. Also, Lord Hellsubus who really devours the scenery when lamenting in the cemetery over his Hellsubus family graves being desecrated by grave robbers. Lampshaded by Elvira who complains, "God, what are you going for, an Oscar?".
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Castle Hellsubus crumbles and Elura's spirit is finally able to rest in peace and she thanks them, Zou Zou asks what does it mean and Elvira cheerfully shouts that they were able to afford their own special effects.
• Marshmallow Hell: Due to hitting a speed bump, Dr. Bradley Bradley ends up faceplanting Elvira's breasts accidentally.
• Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Elvira mistakenly misinterpreted Adrian saying "since the death of his first wife, Lord Hellsubus has not been feeling himself" for this, and Elvira tells him that Lord Hellsubus should do this as it "would relieve a lot of that tension".
• Never My Fault: Lord Hellsubus refuses to accept any part for his own actions of his killing his first wife Elura and his brother Nicholai and pins the blame all on them for their affair.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Elvira and Zou Zou in the opening, when their landlord breaks through their door with an axe demanding his money.
  • The look on Lady Ema Hellsubus' face when Elvira starts playing the piano noisily.
• Opaque Lenses: Lord Hellsubus requires special dark sunglasses as his eyes are very sensitive to sunlight.
• Overcrank: The scene is sped up to a very fast pace as Elvira and Zou Zou escape their hotel room.
• Pet the Dog: Despite all the slapstick violence and humiliation Zou Zou suffers, Zou Zou gets some rare moments of happiness like making out with the stagecoach driver and enjoying a bite of chocolate cake later.
• Plot Twist: Turns out Elura didn't commit suicide. She was actually murdered by her husband Lord Hellsubus for having an affair with his brother.
• Recurring Dreams: Elvira has nightmares where she finds a secret room she doesn't recognize. She eventually discovers the room for herself, where Elura's corpse is actually kept.
• Reality Warper: If Castle Hellsubus was destroyed 100 years ago, just where exactly were Elvira and Zou Zou spending the night at?
• Repetitive Name: Bradley Bradley.
• Running Gag: The screaming.
• Rule of Three: While following after who she thinks is Adrian but is actually Lord Hellsubus, Elvira gets scared at the sight of a crow cawing at her, a spider in a spider web dangling in front of her, and a white bunny gnawing at some grass near a tombstone.
• Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: Elura was buried alive behind a brick wall and left closed off from the rest of the castle Hellsubus.
• Sexual Karma: When Elvira seduces Adrian in the barn and they have sex, it's romantically tender and implied to be satisfactory. Subverted later on when Adrian bursts through a door to rescue Elvira and an already freed Elvira tells him that he came too late "again", implying that he's not so skilled in the lovemaking.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Elvira and Adrian start kissing in the barn. As they fall to the ground, the scene cuts away to Hellsubus castle being shrouded with ominous fog, thunder and lightning and then it cuts back to Elvira and Adrian sleeping in the barn post-coitus.
• Shout-Out:
  • The film pays homage to B-horror films like Edgar Allen Poe's House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum 1961 and The Tomb of Ligeia. The Pit and The Pendulum gets name-dropped by Lord Hellsubus as he attempts to torture Elvira.
  • When the castle is destroyed, it breaks in two and sinks to the ground like The Titanic.
  • Elvira and Zou Zou's landlord Johan chops through their bedroom door with an axe, shouting "Here's Johan!".
  • Elvira compares the bumpy stagecoach ride to "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride".
  • When Dr. Bradley Bradley warns Elvira that the village people claim that the castle is haunted, Elvira snarks, "Ehh, who listens to the Village People anymore?".
  • When Elvira slaps Lord Hellsubus across the face, she tells him "snap out of it!".
  • When seducing Adrian in the barn, Elvira gives him a book for him to read, "The Kama Sutra".
• Suggestive Collision: Elvira and Dr. Bradley Bradley crash into one another suggestively several times as the stagecoach hits a few speed bumps. He continues grabbing her breasts whenever he gets the opportunity such as when the castle shakes.
• That Poor Cat: When Elvira falls into a chair, it steps onto a black cat's tail causing it to yowl and run away.
• Tempting Fate:
  • When the landlord Johan knocks at Elvira and Zou Zou's door, reminding them that their checkout time at the hotel is up and he wants his money, Elvira tells Zou Zou to just go back to sleep and asks "What's he going to do? Kill us?". Then the landlord begins to chop down their door with an axe and Elvira and Zou Zou have to escape through their hotel window to safety.
  • At the end, when Elvira tells Zou Zou that they're never taking another ride in a mysterious stagecoach again, another stagecoach rides up close by them and Zou Zou begs Elvira to let them give them a ride.
• Thanks for the Mammary: Dr. Bradley Bradley saves Elvira from falling by pulling her back into the stagecoach, grabbing onto her breasts in the process.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Elvira takes a single bite of the blood sausage Zou Zou found and then promptly tosses the rest.
• Think of the Censors!: When Elvira hears a noise coming from her bedroom window being blown open by the winds and is about to exit her bubble bath, she breaks the fourth wall and advises the camera to turn away so the film's rating wouldn't go up. The camera then abruptly cuts away to a towel as Elvira exits the bath and puts on a robe off screen.
• Torture Cellar: Beneath the Castle Hellsubus is Lord Hellsubus' torture cellar. Elvira is amazed and disgusted by it.
• Uncertain Doom: By the end, Elvira and Zou Zou take a ride in another stagecoach. After learning about the truth of castle Hellsubus, the coachman is revealed to be Lord Vladimire Hellsubus, this time alive and laughing and cackling evilly.
• Villainous Lineage: Dr. Bradley Bradley warns Elvira that the castle Hellsubus and all its descendants of the Hellsubus family and inhabitants are suffering from a terrible curse.
• Visual Innuendo: When Elvira bows and introduces herself, she accidentally backs into a knight's sword prop and mutters "Hey, we haven't even met yet!".
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Elvira's maid Zou Zou keeps various objects such as a vanity mirror, Elvira's heels, and a blood sausage in between her boobs handy.
• Wham Line: The man in the last stagecoach to Elvira and Zou Zou.
  Stagecoach passenger: Castle Hellsubus was destroyed 100 years ago.