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In
a gloomy and depressing nursing home for the elderly in East
Texas lies Elvis Presley, alive but far from kicking. It seems
that years ago, tired of the fame and pace of his life, he
traded places with a talented Elvis impersonator. However,
when the pretender died, Elvis was left with no career but
impersonator. When he gyrated off the stage and broke his
hip even that came to an end. Now, years down the line, he
is a shadow of his former self, suffering the indignity of
having his (possibly cancerous) puss-filled pecker greased
by a nurse who talks to him as if to a child and, of course,
doesn't believe for one moment he's Elvis. When the death
toll in the home rises dramatically, Elvis and his new friend
(a black man who is convinced he's JFK) discover that an ancient
Egyptian mummy (part of an exhibition lost in transit) is
entering at night and sucking the souls out of any available
orifice. With only the two men having any knowledge of what's
happening it falls on the pair to rise from their beds, prepare
an offensive and take on Bubba Ho-Tep in a fight to the death...
It
sounds crazy, doesn't it? Well, it is. Bubba Ho-Tep
is a load of old nonsense, but it's a very enjoyable load
of old nonsense. If you sell this film on the premise of Elvis
fighting a mummy, the best you could possibly hope for is
a chuckle at the vision it inspires, but I don't think many
people would be intrigued enough to check it out. And that
would be a crying shame, because this story is much more about
the central characters, the mummy merely being the catalyst
by which a sad old man becomes the king again. Two old people
regain some purpose and dignity in their lives when they and
everyone around them believes they are no use to the world
and simply waiting to die. For these two men it's time to
live again one last time.
So
what classification does Bubba Ho-Tep come under? I
hear you ask. Is it horror? is it comedy? Yes, it's both of
those, but it's fundamentally a feel-good piece; a sort of
reverse coming-of-age film. It says to you: "There's life
in the old dog yet!" Bruce (The Evil Dead) Campbell's
portrayal of the singing legend is uncannily good; there's
no hamming-it-up here, and the character is treated with great
respect. I'm no fan of Elvis Presley's music, so it's fortunate
for me that the low budget didn't allow the use of any of
his songs; doubly so, because the music by Brian Tyler which
replaces it is nothing short of superb. Seldom does a film
score composer manage to accurately capture the mood of each
scene, so that you feel like rocking one minute and crying
the next.
It's
worth mentioning the men behind the film. Firstly, Joe R.
Lansdale who wrote the original short story. Having read several
of his books, I already had knowledge of his work. His style
is a little like that of Richard Laymon. But his most popular
books follow the misadventures of two middle-aged men in the
deep south, one a gay black man, the other a straight white.
I urge anyone to read Mucho Mojo; you'll laugh your
socks off. But as for the short story, this is the last one
Lansdale expected to be optioned for a film. The other man
behind the project is, of course, Don Coscarelli, screenplay
writer and director whose other works include the Phantasm
films.
Aside
from 5.1 and Widescreen, other special features include an
entertaining Audio Commentary by Bruce Campbell and Don Coscarelli,
an additional commentary by Bruce Campbell in character as
Elvis, and an Introduction by Bruce Campbell. The second disc
contains a veritable plethora of extras (more even than the
region
1 version). Joe R. Lansdale reads an extract from
the story; there are deleted scenes with optional commentary;
the Making of Bubba Ho-Tep featurette, with To Make
a Mummy, Fit For a King (costumes), and Rock Like an
Egyptian (music) featurettes accompanying it; The King
and I (interview with Don Coscarelli), and a question
and answer session with him; an Interview with Bruce Campbell;
an excellent music video; photo gallery; trailer, TV Spot
and Biographies. What more could you ask for? The packaging
by Anchor Bay is also great, with a slip cover containing
the DVD case with a different cover and an information booklet
inside.
If
you're expecting CGI think again. This is a low-budget film.
The mummy is done for real, and the attacking scarab is a
series of models. But don't associate no money with no good,
quite often they prove to be better. This film is funny, corny,
sad, poignant, and generally over-the-top, and I can't stress
enough how you need this in your collection.
In
the words of Elvis: "Come and get it, you undead psycho sh*t!"
 
Ty
Power
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