No one truly owns Halloween, but Elvira could sure make a good case. Those who opted to stay in on October 31, 1984 were in for a treat on the dusty ol’ television, as the iconic “Mistress of the Dark” hosted five epic hours on MTV for a special Halloween broadcast that mixed in music videos, spooky guest segments, and movie clips. Parts of the broadcast have been floating around on the internet for forever, but Internet Archive has what seems like the full broadcast, uploaded in 2020, complete with commercials.
Dubbed Elvira’s MTV Halloween Party, according to IMDB, “America’s favorite ghoulfriend” holds court in dark divine fashion as she welcomes Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO, Cheech Marin, John Carradine, and others for pre-recorded segments in between videos from Bowie, Nina Hagen, Bauhaus, The Specials, Michael Jackson, Ozzy, Siouxsie, Prince, and others. It’s capped off with Night of the Living Dead and a whole blast of vintage commercials.
Internet Archive has the full rundown, and it’s wild to just run your eyes over it. It’s even better to watch it unfold across five hours, so fire it up and go retro this Halloween weekend. It’s what Elvira wants.