Bubba Ho-Tep

The Evil Dead series already made it pretty clear and – after Bubba Ho Tep – there's nobody who should question this statement ever again: Bruce Campbell is one major cool dude! Campbell stars as Elvis. Old, fat and supposedly out of his mind, he's a resident in an East-Texas rest home. An ancient Egyptian mummy that has been stolen from a museum wanders around in the area, soul-feeding on the weak victims of the nursery home. Elvis, tired of his indigent and pathetic life, teams up with a black man who thinks he's former president Kennedy to destroy the mummy once and for all. The story of Bubba Ho-Tep is remarkably simple… Too simple actually, and if it wasn't for Campbell and a few ingenious gimmicks, this would have been an unnoticed and forgettable comedy/horror film. Bruce gives away an outstanding performance and he is the KING in ways you can't imagine. The saddening, self-criticizing monologues he gives while lying on the hospital bed are some of the best lines in recent cinema and his charisma speaks for itself. Veteran Ossie Davis gives great feedback as the 'president', seeing conspiracies wherever he looks.

The comedy aspects of Bubba Ho-Tep show right away, yet it also is a subtle drama, criticizing the way we often mistreat our elderly by placing them in a home and leaving them to their own devices. It is these outcasts that fight back here and save the day! Bubba Ho-Tep is filled with appealing one-liners and imaginative findings. How about the idea of a 2000-year-old mummy writing stuff like 'Cleopatra does the nasty' on a toilet's wall, like we all did in high school? The film also depends on the professional directing skills of Don Coscarelli. He finally found a worthy successor for his classic horror franchise 'Phantasm', even though that premise was a lot more complex and horrific. Recommended to fans of pop-culture flicks and bizarre gems. One of the better genre films since the new Millennium.

Hail to the King, baby!

Who would have thought it? Don Coscarelli, the man who wrote and directed Phantasm a long, long time ago comes back out of nowhere, after spending his entire career in the dregs, with something like this. A film that is more an exploration of regret, fading dignity and growing old than it is about a soul-sucking mummy.

Very old Elvis is brilliantly played by Bruce Campbell. The voice, the hair, the mannerisms are all perfect. He's stuck in Mud Creek rest home where the cynical staff believe he's really called Sebastian Haff, the man Elvis traded places with back in the 70s. And when Haff died, so did the Elvis the public loved. This only left the REAL Elvis free to live his life in peace and eventually indignity.

He pals up with a man who believes he's JFK, only problem is he's black. Though it's more likely he's senile rather than a truth-teller like the so-called Sebastian Haff. Both men have one concern, to stop some kind of Bubba Ho-Tep mummy from taking the souls of all the rest home residents.

Yes, it's insane. But also wildly imaginative and more than balances out the endless, heartless, conveyor belt Hollywood productions. Elements of the story will stay with you and the character development is graceful and important.

The finishing touch is Brian Tyler's awesome score. The main theme is one of the best ever and will flood you will feeling and emotion. Not only is Bubba Ho-Tep blessed with a cast and crew who care about the film their making, it also has wonderful music too. I am lucky enough to have the rare score CD (autographed by Coscarelli and Tyler). Hunt it down, it's seriously worth it.

Keep a lookout for Reggie Bannister as the rest home manager. And watch all the way to the end of the credits for a weird message...

ELVIS RETURNS IN 'BUBBA NOSFERATU: CURSE OF THE SHE VAMPIRES'

I laughed when a friend suggested this movie. "Yeah, right," I answered, eyes rolled up.

"Well," he finally said a few weeks later, "Here, just look at it. Take my copy and bring it back."

"Okay, " I answered, "what do I have to lose? "

Obviously, I was shocked. This has to be one of the all-time surprises I've ever encountered in movie-watching. Who would have thought this film was this good? Talk about "original!" This is about as original and entertaining as they come, and, as I have stated in several other reviews, entertainment is the name of the game....so I have to rank this film right up there with my favorites.

I refuse to detail the story because the more you explain what it's about, the stupider is sounds and the less likely you will give it a shot.

I will say Bruce Campbell does a fabulous job of imitating Elvis Presley. In fact, he is the best I have ever heard, speaking-voice-wise. Ossie Davis is also a hoot as the old black man who thinks he's President John F. Kennedy. See? I can't say more, because it gets worse, story-wise, the more you explain.

Just trust me that if you appreciate dark humor with some horror thrown in, you'll love it. It's a bit sleazy and the language is very rough, so be ready for that. I guess you could say this "is not for all tastes." You have to be a little warped to enjoy this, but most of us are to some degree.

Be also be ready for one of the oddest films you've ever seen.

"Bubba Ho-tep" is a low budget movie that went for the B-movie feel on purpose, accomplishing its goal of being a "fine" piece of pop culture weirdness. The story is set in a current-day East Texas rest home and focuses on two residents who believe they are Elvis and JFK--the JFK character just happens to be black, and the rest home also houses a few other crazies, including the Lone Ranger. Elvis and JFK soon learn that an Egyptian mummy--who was stolen from his traveling museum exhibition--has come to life in their neighborhood and is killing the rest home residents by sucking their life force out their backsides (you can harvest a soul through "any major orifice," you know). Eventually, our decrepit heroes realize that only they can meet the mummy in a showdown.

The film is really a clever piece of pop culture mythology, working up hilarious back stories for JFK (Ossie Davis who is recognizable from, at the very least, several Spike Lee films) and Elvis (Bruce Campbell of the "Evil Dead" movies). Campbell's performance is particularly excellent, Don Coscarelli's as director did a perfect job finding the right mood and balance of humor for the film, and the leisurely plot--from Joe Lansdale's original novella--is totally engaging and a cinephile's dream.

An elderly Elvis impersonator (or maybe the King himself) and a demented Black man (or maybe J. F. K.) discover that their cut-rate nursing home is being haunted by a soul-sucking pseudo-Texan mummy. Despite some pointless 'gross-out' humour, this off-beat comedy-horror is fun and oddly affecting. Cult-fav Bruce Campbell is pretty good as the maybe-Elvis and his impressions of the King's classic mannerisms (and karate moves) is hilarious. Ossie Davis as a possibly dyed 35th POTUS is just strange and the rest of the cast are mostly props to hang sight-gags on, mostly. Not for everyone but if you like this sort of thing, 'Bubba Ho-Tep' is almost as good as its title.