Movies: Bubba Ho-Tep

Nobody fucks with the King, baby.

Bubba Ho-Tep
Featuring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis.
Genre: Horror/Comedy

Anybody who's seen either of the Evil Dead movies or Army of Darkness, or has played any of the Evil Dead games can attest to how badass Bruce Campbell is. He can take the most ridiculous situations and turn them into entertainment gold, all the while spouting the catchphrases and mannerisms that characters such as Duke Nukem were created from. In short, Bruce is the fucking man, and don't you forget it.

However, regardless of how badass Bruce Campbell may be, every man has his limits. There are just certain things that no human being should be capable of, and this movie is a prime example of how those limits can sometimes be unfathomably, inexplicably and unbelievably demolished. To make a long story short, this movie rocks.

Story

Bruce Campbell plays Elvis Presley. However, this is not the Elvis you might be accustomed to. He's not the suave, young debonaire man-about-town that he was during his prime. This Elvis is an aged, craggy, miserable old man. You see, the truth is that Elvis never really died. During the later years of Elvis' career, the King began to grow weary of the rock star life. Wishing to return to a simpler existence, he sought a path out of the corner he had forced himself into. That path would come to him in the form of an Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff, the greatest and most eerily accurate Elvis impersonator that had ever lived. The two concocted a plan in which they would switch identities and no one would be the wiser. Sebastian went on to live his life as Elvis Presley and the true Elvis settled down into a more comfortable life as his impersonator, Haff. Eventually, however, the real Haff would fall victim to the pressures of the industry and die of a drug overdose, leaving the true Elvis without any proof of his real identity.

Eventually, Elvis would grow old and his passion for life would age with it. The wrinkled rock star eventually came to the point where living on his own power was no longer a viable option. He was simply too weak to take care of hismelf any longer. Elvis eventually came to reside in a small east Texas nursing home, surrounded by the elderly and a staff completely unsympathetic to his tale of woe. The only other person living in the rest home who believed a word of Presley's story was an elderly black man (Ossie Davis) who believed himself to be ex-President John F. Kennedy.

After years of wallowing in his own miseries, Presley comes to his current day situation. He comes into a predicament in which he is confronted by someone or something that is systematically killing off the inhabitants of his rest home. With the help of Mr. Kennedy, Presley will uncover the truth behind an ancient evil hell bent on devouring the souls of the weak and leaving bodies in it's wake.

Okay, so with all that bullshit aside I'm going to lay out for you very simply and clearly what this movie is about. Okay? You ready?

It's an elderly Elvis Presley and a black JFK going up against an ancient cowboy mummy that has risen from the dead and is devouring the souls of an East Texas rest home.

...

Let me repeat that:

It's an elderly Elvis Presley and a black JFK going up against an ancient cowboy mummy that has risen from the dead and is devouring the souls of an East Texas rest home.

Now, that right there should be more than enough to send the more "rational" members of our audience screaming to their graves. That's the most horrendously asinine plot concept I've ever heard, and somehow, somehow it fucking works.

Acting

This right here is how it works. It's impeccably acted. I don't know how these guys pulled this off, but they did and it's awesome. Bruce Campbell turns in what is quite possibly one of the most moving performances I've ever seen. The bulk of the movie is divided up into essentially two parts: a campy, ridiculous story about old Elvis fighting a cowboy mummy named Bubba Ho-Tep and a serious, introspective look into the mind of a fallen rock star in his final years, with a life left behind him that he's not entirely proud of.

The mummy portions are fucking awesome, loaded with brazen Bruce Campbell one-liners and plenty of fantastic comedy to absorb. In all honesty, though, this humor isn't for everyone. The humor to be found in this movie may just be a bit too weird for some, and will probably just sail right over the heads of others. However, to those who do appreciate this sort of jokery, just try to keep yourself from going into hysterics over some of the jokes in this movie. I actually had to pause the movie at one point because I was laughing so hard at Elvis' comparison between a rather large bug and the size of a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

The serious sections, however, are what give the movie the unbelievable amount of dramatic value it carries. Much of the movie is done through Elvis' voice overs, contemplating the current state of his life, how he arrived at this point and whether his entire past was even worth what he's come away with in the end. Granted, a lot of this exposition can be quite amusing as well, but for the most part it's pretty touching to listen to and all of it is very well-delivered and sincere.

All in all, the acting in this movie is top-notch. It's a movie about the innermost thoughts of an iconic character and his and other characters' reactions to a particularly ridiculous situation. Very well-done.

Action

Well, the simple fact is that the youngest constant character in this movie is probably in her 40's and smokes regularly. Aside from her, you're looking at a movie about a bunch of old people and one really old cowboy mummy. So, it's safe to assume that you're not going to be seeing much in the way of intense, seat gripping action. The most frantic it ever gets is a short moving tussle between Elvis and Bubba Ho-Tep on a motorized wheelchair. However, you can't fault the movie too much for this, because action isn't what the thing is about. There's about as much action in this as there was in the Blair Witch Project. The one striking difference between the two movies is that while BWP was a boring, poorly directed hunk of crap, this is an extremely entertaining and funny movie.

Special Effects

There's not a ton of SFX to be found, but what is there is pretty good. Some nifty camera tricks, some cool lighting and electrical effects and a truly badass mummy costume are about the sum whole of it. All in all, the effects are spartan but well-done.

Overall

One of the most entertaining and emotionally valuable movies I've recently seen. The best thing about this film is that Don Coscarelli has managed to create a film with a premise so ridiculous, and not only made it work, but made it truly touching at the same time. Next to Equilibrium, this is the best movie I've seen all year, probably all of last year and probably the year before that. Rent it immediately and enjoy the hell out of it.

"Don't make me use my stuff on you, baby."

Score:9.3

hmm...sounds good dude. I"ll check it out.

When I first saw the online preview for this movie I thought it was the weirdest concept I'd ever heard of but I was determined to see it. When it didn't come out in theaters around here, I promptly obtained it otherwise and was pleasantly surprised. As cheesy as this movie sounds, it was actually very good. Bruce Campbell is, as usual, spot-on and fucking hilarious. What surprised me was his ability to do some great dramatic acting.

As for Equilibrium, that's another far underappreciated movie which I loved so much I bought (a very rare thing with me, only movies I own are "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail", "Office Space", "Equilibrium", and "Kill Bill Vol 1&2")

Anyway, I fucking loved Bubba Ho-Tep and anyone who thinks Raziel is funny will probably love it too.