Bubba Ho-Tep - Bruce Campbell's Finest Movie?

Amongst film geeks and genre fans there is perhaps no bigger star than Bruce Campbell.

Campbell was the star of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy and numerous B-movies and failed TV series. He is also a tremendously gifted physical comedian, Hollywood it seems has never quite known how to use his talents. Don Coscarelli is also a talent that has remained on the outskirts of the Hollywood system.

His Phantasm films are among some of the best loved Horror movies of the 1980’s and Beastmaster was among the most enjoyable fantasy films that was released in the wave that appeared after the success of Conan the Barbarian. In 2002 both of these B stalwarts teamed up for a movie based on a short story by author Joe R Lansdale.

The story of Bubba Ho-Tep imagines what would have happened if Elvis Presley had lived. It tells a tale of Elvis being fed up with his life and the entourage he felt was bleeding him dry and deciding to switch places with Elvis impersonator Sebastian Haff. Sebastian has a love of drugs and excess so of course dies with the world thinking the real Elvis died on the toilet.

The real Elvis enjoys a low key existence as an Elvis impersonator living in a trailer park until he breaks his hip on stage. We pick up with Elvis living in a rest home in Mud Creek, East Texas. He has to walk around using a walking frame and has a cancerous growth on his penis. Elvis lives out his days with his friend Jack played by the late Ossie Davis who despite being black claims he is John F. Kennedy and has been dyed and had part of his brain removed and placed with a bag of sand.

None of the staff believe their tall tales naturally assuming that they are going senile. These two spend their days chatting about former glories and watching everyone around them pass on. Until the home is attacked by an ancient mummy who is sucking the souls out of the elderly residents. Following a scuffle with a giant beetle, Elvis and Jack investigate and rediscover some of their lost mojo.

The story is as out there as you can get and is all the more enjoyable for it. The dialogue is hilarious and it has many laugh out loud moments and classic quotable lines. Campbell and Davis give great performances. It reminds you why Campbell is such a cult figure as here he really does his best work. His Elvis impersonation is spot on and its great if you are a fan of the king to see this and imagine the real way he went out as opposed to going out in the toilet.

The surprising thing about this film is how touching it is. Elvis remembers his former glories with regret and wants nothing more than to be able to see his wife and daughter once again. As well as being an entertaining horror movie its also a moving study of growing old.  The budget for this was only five hundred dollars so the emphasis is on the well written script as opposed to the special effects work which is adequate but not spectacular.

The film was a hit at many film festivals in 2002 and never really got the wide release it deserved. It’s a shame as had this been picked up by the right studio and given the appropriate push it could have become a huge cult hit as opposed to the minor one it currently is. In the credits we are promised that Elvis will return in Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She Vampires a la James Bond. This has not yet gone into production but hopefully one day this project will become a reality due to the growing cult popularity of this film.

Trivia: Although Elvis Presley is the main character, not one piece of Elvis's music is heard. It would have cost about half the budget to license one of Elvis's songs for the movie.