Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

In Mud Creek, Texas, at the Shady Rest Convalescence Center, a man called Sebastian Half (Bruce Campbel) claims to be the real Elvis Presley. He has been living in coma at the home for twenty years since he tripped off the stage. Sebastian explains that he switched places with an Elvis impersonator since he was tired of his fame but their contract that could prove his real identity was accidentally burnt to ashes in a barbecue. When his friend Jack (Ossie Davis), who is a black man that claims to be President John Kennedy, shows evidence that an ancient Egyptian mummy is sucking the souls of the residents of the nursing home, the skeptical Sebastian sees evidences that show that his friend is correct. Now the two old men plot how to stop the mummy.

"Bubba Ho-Tep" is an original, funny and highly entertaining comedy-horror film. The storyline is absolutely insane and weird, but it is worthwhile watching. Bruce Campbel is unrecognizable in the role of Elvis Presley, the true or the impersonator. Ossie Davis posing of a dyed John Kennedy is hilarious. The fight with the mummy is amusing. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Fmovies: When I first heard about his film I thought the idea of Elvis in a rest home doing battle against a mummy with John F. Kennedy was pure genius, and after having seen it, my thought was only confirmed. Not often is there a film that I will hype so much in my head that when I Do actually get to see it I'm still hyped about it. But this is one of those films. It was all that I was expecting... and then some. It has everything anyone could want in a film, original story, original direction, horror, comedy, drama and more than one stand out performance. Something lacking in the motion picture industry these days is originality, so when this came along it was quite refreshing.

We have Bruce Campbell giving the performance of a lifetime, and almost no recognition. The part of Elvis could have come across as just sad and pathetic, but instead, he brought a sense of realism to it, and heart. At times we felt bad for him, but we never forgot that he was the King of Rock and Roll. And he was still very much capable of "Takin' Care'a Business". We do have the option of believing he is Elvis, or that he could really be Sebastian Haff who impersonated Elvis for so long that he actually believes he is "The King"? As for myself- I'm a believer.

Yet another overlooked performance is Ossie Davis. He played the part of John F. "Jack" Kennedy to perfection. His performance was all class. It came off in such a way that We don't believe he is J.F.K. - but we believe that He believes he is J.F.K. Too confusing? Sorry.

Let's not forget Ella Joyce as The Nurse, and the old kleptomaniacal woman who was attacked by the "Cock-a-roach". And fans of Don Coscarelli's "Phantasm" movies will surely recognize Reggie Bannister as the rest home administrator. Well I could name everyone in the movie, they all did a swell job. But I can't stop without mentioning Bob Ivy as "Bubba". He did a fine job as well, and starved himself in the process just to appear undead and severely dehydrated! And KNB Effects made a very spooky looking mummy, I might add.

I'm not sure why this movie is classified mostly as a horror when it's so much more than that. I think there's a much wider audience out there that could (and would) appreciate a film like this but are missing out because it's been marketed strictly as horror. I actually know people who won't even watch it because they think it's all blood and gore! I guess that's because when they see it on the shelves at the video stores it's classified under "HORROR". Oh well, sometimes it's nice to feel like you're in on a secret.

"Where'd my youth go? Why didn't fame hold off old age and death? Why did I leave fame in the first place? Do I want it back? And could I have it back? And if I could... would it make any difference?"

Set in a retirement home, two residents--a man who may or may not be Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and a man who may or may not be John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis)--encounter strange Egyptian beetles and a mummy with an attitude.

On the quirky weirdness scale, Bubba Ho-tep deserves a solid 10. Writer Joe R. Lansdale and writer/director Don Coscarelli's bizarre confluence of pop culture references, surrealism, absurdism, mythology and social commentary/criticism is very close to my own preferences and approach to art making. Unfortunately, though, at least on a first viewing, the climax didn't quite click for me the way it should have, and I had to subtract one point. But overall this is an excellent film, and a 9 is still equivalent to a letter grade of an "A".

Although often sold as a horror film, and listed as "horror/comedy" on IMDb, Bubba Ho-tep is more of what I consider a "surrealist realist drama". That's likely to seem like an oxymoron and not make any sense, so let me explain. "Realist drama" consists of fictions that try in most ways to approximate the actual world. The concerns are to show "real kinds" of people in "real kinds" of environments and situations, behaving, speaking and interacting in "real kinds" of ways. There are a number of artists, however, who take that framework and build something more surreal/absurdist on top of it, but the realist drama foundations remain.

For a number of reasons, this tends to be more easily found in literature, and a number of my favorite authors write in this style, including Tom Robbins, Harry Crews, Thomas Berger, Thomas Pynchon and on the more journalistic side of things, Hunter S. Thompson (yes, it's odd that most of them have some variation of "Tom" in their names). Although some filmmakers approach the style (and of course, films have been made from some of those authors' books), like the Coen Brothers, David Lynch, Tim Burton, David Cronenberg, Terry Gilliam, and others, the tendency with films is to let them slide from surrealist realist drama to surrealist fantasy or other kinds of genre films, maybe with some hints of realist drama. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, it's just two sometimes subtly different approaches. I like surrealist fantasy and genre films just as well.

The bulk of Bubba Ho-tep is in that genre; it works extremely well as a surrealist realist drama. We never can tell if Campbell is really Elvis or if he's just crazy, but if he may be Elvis, it gives extra weight to the possibility that Davis is a "dyed" and transformed John F. Kennedy (since Davis is black and has obviously different facial features). Campbell receives a remarkable makeup job that helps him change into an aging, unhealthy Elvis. His performance is spot-on. Campbell does an amazing job physically, as well, particularly when he has to use a walker in some unusual ways.

The production design crew did an admirable job with the minimal sets, with Campbell's shared room being appropriate for the caliber of an Elvis impersonator (which the character may be instead) and Davis' room subtly conveying "Presidential Suite" and an obsession with Kennedy's supposed assassination. Coscarelli and cinematographer Adam Janeiro easily capture a nice dreamlike atmosphere in the retirement home and grounds, with the fantastic hallways especially standing out.

The backstory explaining how Campbell's character

Bubba Ho-Tep fmovies. 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!

I'd heard that when the end credits rolled for 'Bubba Ho-Tep' during the premiere in Detroit, there was a five minute standing ovation. Having seen the movie, I have to honestly say a five minute ovation seems not long enough. What a film! Other reviewers have called this film, "excellent," "fantastic," "wonderful," etc. While I won't question the reviewers' choice of words, I'm not sure the they're sufficient to describe just what an experience 'Bubba Ho-Tep' is.

"Superlative" probably comes closest.

So what exactly IS 'Bubba Ho-Tep?' Take your pick of one or all: Drama. Horror. Comedy. Tear Jerker. Life Lesson.

'Bubba' not only succeeds in each genre, but excels. Lesser movies have attempted to be jack-of-all-trades, but usually fall far short of one goal. One movie may be hilarious at its core, but preachy in the moral lesson. Another could be a fantastic horror film, but the creature ends up as more interesting and sympathetic than it's human co-stars. Yet another movie can teach a valuable lesson on life, but leave you depressed as you're exiting the theater.

'Bubba' succeeds where others have failed.

Enough praise can not be heaped on Bruce Campbell for his utterly believable performance as Presley. Even the hokeyness of Elvis threatening the mummy with his karate "stuff" was never over the top, as one could OH so see Elvis doing that! Campbell offers an amazing view into Presley's soul. Here lies a man upset with his lot in life, wanting to get away from the limelight yet craving it at the same time. A man wishing for the best but accepting of the worst. A man ready to shake off his failures and embracing his desire to be what he's always wanted to be - a hero. His finest line: "Always the questions, never the answers. Always the hopes, never the fulfillments." Sound familiar?

And how can one go wrong with Ossie Davis, who adds an aristocratic touch of humanity and sympathy as Jack Kennedy. IS he the President? Hey, stranger stories than his have been told! Best line: "It's now up to you, Elvis. You got to get him... You got to... take care of business." I challenge you to still have a dry eye after that.

The accolades should not stop here, however. Director Don Coscarelli didn't just write and direct 'Bubba,' he crafted it. With love, and with the finest attentions to detail, fit and finish. More so, he was faithful to Joe Lansdale's original story. (Which is a tribute to Coscarelli, as most mainstream Hollywood movies would have mangled the source material into something unrecognizable from what it once was.) The supporting cast was as fine as could be had. Pay special attention to Ella Joyce as the nurse. Though her character is meant to be cold and uncaring, Joyce still manages to sneak glimpses of humanity into the performance. One could see the nurse as someone who once had and still wants to care, but has become so desensitized that caring for her charges has all but dissipated. And who can forget the score? Talk about a custom fit between movie and music!

All in all, it is a crime that 'Bubba Ho-Tep' did not get greater exposure. More of a crime is a lack of Campbell's recognition by mainstream Hollywood for his outstanding turn as Elvis. (Then again, one gets the refreshing impression that Campbell gladly accepts this shun.)

Just as William Hurt's outstanding

I must confess I had reservations prior to seeing this film. I thought it would be some God-awfully childish film laden with sophomoric jokes, cheesy effects, and inane dialogue. Some of those elements do surface, but this film was a genuine pleasure to sit through. Imagine if you can that Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll, switched places with an Elvis impersonator and now lives a sad, lost life in a small, run-down nursing home in East Texas. Add to the mix Ozzie Davis as a man convinced he is John F. Kennedy and a mummy that sucks the souls of geriatric residents and you have the basic premise behind Bubba Ho-tep. But beyond all that and the jokes about Elvis's genitalia and other low brow references is a film with a tremendous amount of heart and a message about the elderly in our society and how we have, as a society, betrayed them and cast them aside. The script and effective direction of Phantasm's Don Coscarelli make this film work on several levels. It is a comedy. It is a drama. It is a horror film. It has all those elements. You care about the characters and are drawn into this seedy little world. The biggest asset the film has is its performances. Davis gives a fine turn and adds credibility to the film, but Bruce Campbell as the king just bowled me over. I had seen him before, but I had never seen him act like this before. You soon forget Campbell is acting and think Elvis is really there - now 68 and destitute. Campbell's inflection, mannerisms, and poise melt and fuse wonderfully into Elvis. This was one of the very pleasant surprises that come along every so often.