Overview
The King vs. The King of the Dead.
Bubba Ho-tep tells the “true” story of what really did become of Elvis Presley. We find Elvis as an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home, who switched identities with an Elvis impersonator years before his “death,” then missed his chance to switch back. He must team up with JFK and fight an ancient Egyptian mummy for the souls of their fellow residents.
Review
Bubba Ho-tep ranks high on my favorite horror comedies of all time. It’s brilliantly creative and funny as hell. Bruce Campbell as an elderly Elvis and Ossie Davis playing a “dyed” JFK. Both hiding out in the Shady Rest Retirement Home in Mud Creek, Texas, fighting a soul-sucking mummy feeding off the residents by way of alternative orifices. And crapping out their souls in the visitor’s toilets. The premise alone is enough to bring about a laugh, but this movie also delivers many.
Some of the Bruce Campbell dialogue in this was just killer. The entire movie was a joy to watch. It’s silly, outrageous and cleverly written and directed. Don Coscarelli gets the most out of Bruce Campbell’s comedic charm. The nursing home setting features grungy walls and even a resident left out in the hall stuck in an iron lung. Among the residents, you have a masked gun-toting old fart named Kemosabe and a kleptomaniac old lady.
This film is high quality comedic horror!
Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)
