Elvira’s Haunted Hills is a 2001 American comedy-horror film directed by Sam Irvin and written by Cassandra Peterson and John Paragon, with Peterson once again playing Elvira. Set in 1851, the film follows Elvira and her maid Zou Zou as they become stranded in the Carpathian Mountains and end up at the gloomy Castle Hellsubus, where curses, family secrets and gothic absurdity await them. Unlike Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, this one is styled as a loving spoof of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe films and old Hammer-style gothic horror, giving it a deliberately camp, period-horror atmosphere.
The film was shot in Romania, and that decision is a huge part of why it looks far richer than its modest budget would suggest. Public production records list Bucharest, Saschiz, the Carpathian Mountains and the wider Transylvania region as filming locations, with studio work carried out at MediaPro Studios in Bucharest. Rather than building everything on artificial sets, the production used real Romanian landscapes and historic-looking surroundings to create its gothic world, which gives the film misty hills, old stone architecture and a convincing Eastern European atmosphere that fits the story perfectly. In other words, the locations are not just decorative backgrounds, but one of the main reasons the film feels like a genuine old-world horror romp instead of a simple parody shot on a soundstage.
Saschiz Fortified Church
Saschiz Fortified Church appears in Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2001). Only part of the building is visible on screen.
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