What to expect during Elvira XXperience at Knott’s Scary Farm

Knott's Scary Farm returns on select nights from Sept. 19 through Oct. 31.

All the Elvira comedy, music and dance routines and sexual innuendo you’ve come to love or hate over the last four decades at Knott’s Scary Farm will be back this Halloween with only one thing missing — the Mistress of the Dark herself.

But rest assured, there will be no shortage of Elvira at Knott’s this Halloween season.

The “Yours Cruelly Elvira XXperience” will celebrate Elvira’s 20 shows over the past 40 years at the annual Halloween Haunt event at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Knott’s Scary Farm returns on select nights from Sept. 19 through Oct. 31 with more than 1,000 monsters lurking in the haunted mazes, scare zones and fog-filled streets throughout the Buena Park theme park.

Elvira star Cassandra Peterson will make several appearances during Scary Farm 2024 — but she won’t be donning the skimpy costume or performing the classic horror character.

Peterson will be on hand for three signing events and two panel discussions. The moderated panels will be held on Oct. 18 and 20 with signing sessions to follow. The panel discussions will be open to all Scary Farm visitors.

Peterson will also be at Knott’s for the opening night of Scary Farm on Sept. 19 for another signing event (with no panel discussion).

Elvira Mistress of the Dark was the best known and longest tenured of the celebrities who served as the face of the annual Knott’s Halloween event — a list that included Wolfman Jack, Sinister Seymour and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

“She left such a mark on the fans. A lot of them still miss having her here,” Knott’s Show Director Rob Perez said. “This is a way to give them back the history and a taste of what the shows were and give them as close to the real thing as we possibly could.”

The “Yours Cruelly Elvira XXperience” show will play every night of Scary Farm in the Walter Knott Theater.

Remastered videos showcasing highlights, behind the scenes footage and interview snippets from Elvira’s 20 seasons at Knott’s will play continuously throughout the evening.

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There will be no shortage of content with at least five hours of Elvira video highlights playing every night.

“I’m having to whittle a lot of it way down,” Perez said during an online video interview. “There will be plenty on display.”

Die-hard Elvira fans and Knott’s Scary Farm season passholders won’t have to get their fill all in one night, according to Perez.

“They can come back and schedule the bits that they’d like to see,” Perez said. “It’s going to run continuously so people can kind of mill in and out of it at their leisure. We are going to have some specific set times for the highlights to begin.”

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Perez said exact showtimes haven’t been set yet, but the plan is to have Elvira highlights from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2013 and 2017 start at the top of each hour.

That means if you want to see the first Elvira show from 1982 you better head over to the Knott Theater as soon as Scary Farm starts each night.

Just be prepared for poorer video quality — and more amateurish production values with the ’80s shows. But that’s part of the fun and historic nature of the career retrospective.

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Show highlights from each era are expected to play at the top of every hour followed by behind-the-scenes footage and Elvira interviews.

Highlights from the 2013 “Elvira’s Sinema Seance” will include the seven-minute mini horror movie parody featuring Elvira that was created for the Scary Farm show.

The “Elvira XXperience” will offer a full screening of the comedy variety show from her final Knott’s season in 2017.

“My hope is that we can get that final show at midnight so it’s kind of like a midnight movie,” Perez said.

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The Knott Theater walls will be lined with displays from each Elvira show from 1982 to 2017 and Mistress of the Dark photo ops will be available throughout the event.

Knott’s has also dipped into Elvira’s Archives to find memorabilia from the past four decades of her career and her Scary Farm history.

Elvira’s Macabre Mobile will be making its way to Knott’s from Las Vegas. Her famous chaise lounge and candelabras will also be on hand along with other show props and vintage merchandise.

Knott’s is also trying to get Elvira’s signature Mistress guitar from BC Rich and an Elvira pinball machine — which may or may not happen.

“We’re working on the stuff that we think people would just be pretty amazed by,” Perez said.