Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
Directed by Don Coscarelli
Written by Don Coscarelli
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis
Release Date June 9th, 2002
Published April 20th, 2004
Bruce Campbell made his name with arguably the best B-movie horror films series in history, Evil Dead. Army Of Darkness cemented his legend but since that film’s 1993 release, Campbell has not been able to rise to that level of genius.
Until now that is.
With the release of Bubba Ho-tep (it was released in late 2002 and just reached my small hole in the universe in April 2004), Campbell has recaptured that vibe that made Ash a legend. Playing an aged King of Rock N Roll fighting a mummy, Campbell reaches a level that flies well past camp and into a realm that only a Bruce Campbell B-movie could reach.
Just before Elvis Presley was found dead in his Graceland mansion, the real Elvis visited a man that was believed to be the best Elvis impersonator in the world. His name is Sebastian Haff and the deal he made was to become Elvis, allowing the real King to go into hiding, pretending to be an Elvis impersonator. Part of the deal the two men made was that Elvis could switch back whenever he wanted. Before he could though, Sebastian Haff died and the real Elvis fell off a stage during a performance and landed himself in a Texas old folk’s home where he's been laid up for more than 20 years.
Elvis fell into a drab, depressing routine of watching roommates pass away and unexciting sponge baths from the bitchy nursing staff. All the while lamenting the loss of his fame and fortune. Elvis's only friend and the only man who believes he really is Elvis is a man who is convinced that he himself is John F. Kennedy. This despite being a black man (Ossie Davis plays the unusual role). According to Jack, they dyed him after they shot him.
It is Jack that first becomes aware of a peculiar series of deaths in the home. Peculiar because they are precipitated by the appearance a huge cockroach-looking thing and electrical surges. Soon the two friends discover that the real peculiar thing is that there is a mummy in a cowboy hat that is sucking the life out of old people to keep itself alive. Now these two legends must find away to save their home and themselves from a creature that Elvis dubs Bubba Ho-tep.
Just the concept alone, Elvis and JFK vs. a mummy, is brilliant enough. Then, as directed by Don Coscarelli, the man who directed Phantasm, it reaches another level of cheesy brilliance. Coscarelli only knows one way to direct a film and that is with as minimalist a palette as possible. He’s a veteran director but he can never be confused for an artist. However, it is exactly that lack of precision and skill that so perfectly captures such a strange weird movie. It is my honest opinion that in this case, it takes a bad director to make a bad movie transcend its badness into something wholly brilliant.
Campy, kooky, over the top ridiculousness abounds in Bubba Ho-tep. From the gutter mouth dialogue to the cheeseball look to a mummy in a cowboy hat, Bubba is an ingenious B-movie that returns Bruce Campbell to his so-bad-it's-good brilliance. This is a film that has to be seen to be believed.
