Review by Katy
I am an Elvira super-fan. Her sharp wit and strong sense of self dazzled me from the first time I watched Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, her feature film released in 1988. Before reading her autobiography, Yours Cruelly, Elvira, I knew only a few things about the actress Cassandra Peterson, who portrayed the likeness of Elvira: that she was born in my home state, Kansas, and that she has been a horror and comedy icon for going on 4 decades. In her autobiography, she tells of the triumphs and trials that she went through to become the Mistress of the Dark, clawing her way from a small town outside of Manhattan, Kansas, to make her way to Hollywood to become the icon that we all know and love today. Along the way, she tells of the celebrities she met, of the many iconic figures who inspired her, and of the difficult times that she encountered throughout her life – the roadblocks that could have easily stopped anyone who didn’t have star power in their blood.
This book is a great read if you’re an Elvira fan, and even if you aren’t, her candid writing and sense of humor are enough to keep you entertained from start to finish. You can also find her debut film, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, and comics based on her character on Hoopla.
read.watch.listen. 