Bubba Ho-tep (2002)

Don Cascarelli's Bubba Ho Tep is an oddity of unique subject matter, spot on casting, imaginative genius and surprisingly touching exchanges of dialogue. Many films make the claim that they are "like nothing you have ever seen before". Well, this one actually deserves the moniker. The main character is an ageing, walker bound Elvis Presley, stuck in a drab east Texas retired home, and played by the man himself, the inimitable Bruce Campbell. He's there because years ago he exchanged places with a legendary impersonator (also Campbell;) and decided to give it all up and live in near isolation. No one at the rest home believes him of course. The only companionship he finds is with an elderly black man (the great Ossie Davis in a performance of disarming deadpan gravity) who thinks he is JFK, dyed a darker shade by his enemies in the state, and forgotten about. Sound crazy yet? It gets better. The dreary rest home suddenly finds itself under attack from Bubba Ho Tep, a cowboy hat and boot wearing, leathery Egyptian Mummy, with a penchant for sucking people's souls out through any orifice. Any. The only reason this film works, and the secret to getting a campy, asinine concept to fly: the actors and filmmakers treat the proceedings and their dialogue with the utmost sincerity, never pitting their tongues anywhere near their cheek. Bruce Campbell is a revelation as The King, nailing the funny bits, and especially the poignant, melancholic ones. He plays a bruised, guilt ridden Elvis that knows in his twilight years that the decisions he has made have led him to his outcome, and that he's hurt the ones he loves and can't forgive himself, he also knows the only way past that is personal redemption. Ossie Davis brings an old world charm and austere nobility to his black JFK, with just the right sarcastic goofball notes. Ella Joyce is fantastic as a patronizing yet well meaning nurse. The film has a shabby, lovingly made, down to earth jive and the tone is a lightning in a bottle, unique pace that stays with you after. They don't get much more unique than this... check it out.

This is one hell of a movie.It is based of one of my favorite author's short stories of the same name.This movie finds Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) in a East Texas rest home years after he supposedly died.He tries to explain in vain that he is the real Elvis and traded places with an impersonator who had a bad heart and he died from an overdose not him.Also in the rest home is a black man named Jack who says he is John F. Kennedy and he was dyed black so they could hide him.It gets even weirder when a Mummy who sucks souls out of people's assholes comes into the picture.What can I say about myself when a movie where Elvis fights a ass sucking mummy made me cry not once but twice.It follows the short story closely especially at the final battle.All is Well

To be honest, I've never been a Don Coscarelli fan. I never liked his 'Phantasm' flicks and found his cinematic technique wanting.Having said that, Bubba Ho-Tep turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The film concerns an Elvis impersonator (superbly limned by Bruce Campbell) who may or may not be the real Elvis, living in a dumpy old rest home in Texas, old, grumpy, tired by the life he's allegedly led and wondering about his next meal, bowel movement, and lack of sexual urges.He is joined by the late, great Ossie Davis as another elderly resident who thinks he is John F. Kennedy. The lunacy begins when the two join forces to fight and kill a mummy who's appeared and who's killing off the elderly inhabitants of the rest home.While the supporting roles are handled well by Ella Joyce and Reggie Bannister (among others) Campbell and Davis are the whole show. Campbell plays Elvis as the real Elvis would play himself: as someone who verges on self-parody but never crosses that line. Davis is also excellent in a role that not many others could have played so well, and Coscarelli, working with a shoestring budget, demonstrates a number of clever touches (the mummy's subtitles, for example) that makes the film all the more enjoyable. It's never as scary as you think it might be, and it's never really as funny as it should be, but the acting is so good that it sucks you in and doesn't let you go until the final credits are done and the house lights come on.What it really is, is a meditation on growing old, being shuttled to the sidelines of life, and having the guts to go out with a bang. Hail to the King, baby. Elvis would have been proud of this.

Elvis and JFK go up against a soul sucking undead mummy in a nursing home. That sounds like a kick ass B - movie, and thats what Bubba Ho-Tep is, but its also so much more.The characters are so likable here, its actually quite an emotional story. Elvis is still alive and in a nursing home after he swapped places with an Elvis impersonator to get away from all the fame, unfortunately after the Elvis impersonator dies and he breaks his hip, he ends up in a nursing home, wondering why he gave up his life of fame and fortune and generally thinking (in a very humorous way) about life itself. Bruce Campbell turns in a solid performance as the King and makes us truly sympathise with his situation. Ossie Davis plays Jack or JFK and unlike Elvis, we aren't entirely sure if he actually is who he says he is, but we don't care because, just like Elvis, he is happier believing he is who he is and we are happy because he is happy. The relationship between these two characters is both funny and heart warming. Two friends against impossible odds, battling an undead mummy, now if that mummy also turned out to be an aging man claiming to be Boris Karloff, this film would be perfect.The story of the Mummy is fantastic as well. A story of character with occasional Mummy and cockroach appearances. The mummy actual look of the mummy is hilarious, with cowboy hat and boots. The contrast of the Mummy and the two leads is what gives the film its unique style of comedy, its not laugh out loud all the time, but you will have an extremely big smile on yourself the entire time.