Cassandra ‘Elvira’ Peterson Talks Politics & Publishing Her Cookbook

Though she’s spent more than 40 years as a spooky and sexy icon, Cassandra Peterson ― better known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark ― admits she’s felt a bit scared by the real world as of late, and not simply because Halloween season is in full swing.

“I feel pretty darn good about my career ― it’s still going, and I’m just kind of home free,” she told celebrity.land in an interview. As for what’s been recently giving her a fright, she added, “Politics … that’s a scary consideration for not only me, but I think the rest of the country right now.”

With that in mind, fans may be relieved to find Peterson’s sense of campy humor intact on her latest project, in which she playfully rebrands herself as the “Martha Stewart of the Macabre.” Unveiled last week, “Elvira’s Cookbook from Hell” is a 222-page book of colorful recipes she’s created to spice up dinner parties and social gatherings.

Would-be chefs can try their hand at creepy dishes like the “Transylvanian Ghoul-ash” and “Living Dead Lasagna,” and will appreciate Peterson’s tips on signature cocktails and festive decor.

More adventurous offerings include the “Roasted Brains,” featuring an over-roasted cauliflower drizzled in a mint, lime and jalapeño chutney, while “Adraka Kozarole” is a wink at a memorable scene from the 1988 film “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.”

Still, the book required Peterson to do a little legwork.

“I’ve wanted to do this for literally 30 years,” she recalled. “Nobody was biting. It was always, ‘There’s a million Halloween cookbooks, we don’t need one more.’ And I kept telling them, ‘There’s a huge Goth crowd that would do Halloween 365 days a year if they could.’ I finally convinced a publisher to go with it after my autobiography [2021’s ‘Yours Cruelly, Elvira’] did well. They went, ‘Oh, maybe Elvira does have an audience.’”

New pursuits aside, Peterson hasn’t turned her back on the world of horror films, citing 2015’s “The Witch” and 2024’s “Nosferatu” as recent favorites.

She also praised Demi Moore’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of a fading Hollywood star who goes to deadly extremes to appear youthful in “The Substance,” noting, “I loved it. I thought it was hilarious and brilliant and kind of hit home for me.”

While many fans look to horror as escapism, Peterson believes the genre has a responsibility to reflect the moment in which it’s being produced.

“In the 1950s and ’60s, there was the Red Scare, and people were worried about atomic bombs ― we got ‘Godzilla’ out of that,” she said. Still, she feels Hollywood is likely to hold off for a bit before producing a horror movie that reflects the current sociopolitical climate: “Right now it would get pulled off the screen.”

These days, Peterson is also embracing a newfound role as an LGBTQ+ rights advocate. Though she’s long enjoyed a queer fanbase, one of the most headline-making revelations in “Yours Cruelly, Elvira” was her first public acknowledgement of her relationship with her girlfriend, Teresa “T” Wierson.

Though she admits the news rankled some fans who were “mostly male and older,” she has no regrets about her decision nearly four years later.

“Keeping secrets is not good ― it gives you gas and a lot of other things,” she quipped. “And my middle name is Gay! That’s what happens when you get that name.”

On a serious note, she says she’s heard from “a lot of young people ― and I mean really young,” who have credited her for helping them to embrace their own queer sexuality or gender identity.

“Both women and men have come up to me and said, ‘You gave me the strength and the courage to come out to my family, or at my job.’ I mean, it’s heavy,” she said. “I feel like if I can do that for even a few people, then being Elvira is worth it. Putting all that makeup on for all those years paid off.”