Don Coscarelli, the man who brought you the PHANTASM series, scores a bulls-eye with BUBBA HO-TEP, a totally unique film based on Joe R. Lansdale’s novella. Lansdale is well known to fans of horror fiction for his books and short stories in the filed as well as other genres (crime, westerns, even comic books). Coscarelli’s adaptation is a delightful blend of horror and humor, and a bittersweet reflection on aging, if not gracefully, then with courage.
Bruce Campbell (ASH VS EVIL DEAD) stars as Sebastian Haff, former Elvis impersonator who may or may not really be The King. He believes he is, and that’s what matters. He’s stuck in a Mud Creek, Texas rest home, confined to a walker and battling a weird growth on his pecker. People at the rest home are dying, as you’d expect in a place like this, but under some strange circumstances that’re causing Elvis to have recurring visions.
Elvis has a friend at the home who thinks he’s John F. Kennedy – only the president is now an elderly black man (Ossie Davis), his pigment dyed after the Dallas assassination attempt failed. Or so he believes! When Elvis is attacked in his room by a huge Egyptian beetle (who The King mistakes for a Texas cockroach!), Jack Kennedy thinks LBJ has sent an assassin to finish the job. The pair find some hieroglyphics written in the bathroom stall, and uncover a conspiracy theory about an ancient mummy (who Elvis calls ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’) sucking the souls out of the elderly patients through – well, let’s just say through nefarious means! The King and The President must now join forces and get ready to TCB against the evil Egyptian soul-sucker!
Campbell does Elvis better than anyone this side of Kurt Russell, and his performance as the aging King of Rock & Roll is a joy to behold. Davis also shines as JFK, who’s had part of his brain replaced by a bag of sand (or so he believes). The two men may be old and infirm, not to mention a bit daft in the head, but that doesn’t stop them from performing some heroic deeds in order to save their fellow rest home residents from losing the only thing most of them have left – their immortal souls! Both Campbell and Davis create believable, sympathetic characters, never falling into outright parody, and make one hell of a geriatric Dynamic Duo!
Veteran Larry Pennell, known to TV fans as ‘Dash Riprock’ on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, has a brief but memorable role as Kemosabe, who believes he’s The Lone Ranger, and who are we to doubt him! Ella Joyce (ROC) is a standout as Elvis’s sassy nurse. Coscarelli regulars Reggie Bannister, Heidi Marnhout, and Bob Ivy (as Bubba) appear, and cult actor Daniel Roebuck has a cameo as a hearse driver. BUBBA HO-TEP has gained cult status itself over time, and is a bit of a different treat to put on your Halloween watch list.
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