Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Bubba Ho-Tep is a drama... no wait..

Bubba Ho-Tep is a dark comedy...umm no that's not quite right either....

Bubba Ho-Tep is a horror flick....

Oh to hell with it. It's one of Bruce Campbell's warped, off-the-wall, totally unclassifiable movies... and I loved it.

What we have here is Elvis, you see, only he's old now and in a retirement home somewhere in East Texas, after having switched identities with an Elvis impersonator some years back to get away from all the hoopla. Now nobody believes him... except for JFK. But the thing is JFK is also in the home and very old..and he's black.. and missing a part of his brain which was removed and is being kept in DC somewhere. And oh yeah... Elvis has this growth on his err 'boomstick' that he is a bit obsessed with. heh.

Come and get it, you undead sack of shit.

If all that isn't enough to pique your interest, let's toss in an ancient Egyptian mummy running amok and sucking souls out of the elderly. Yes folks, a Mummy in Texas. That's Bubba Ho-Tep.

Old folks do not move fast. Mummies do not move fast. Therefore this is not a fast paced thriller by any means. It's got a very casual and leisurely flow to it, but you won't get bored. Oh no. You'll have plenty of groan time and holding-your-aching-sides time. I mean, it's Bruce Campbell. You know... the Evil Dead trilogy? The very same. The guy has this knack for schlock, timing, and just plain not letting you get up from your chair.. kinda like watching a pile up on the Interstate, but slightly more comical. heh. In short, he's one of my absolute favorites and has a rather large cult following.

Ossie Davis (Malcolm X, Gladiator) gives a bit of respectability to this flick by playing the black JFK... but just a bit. We wouldn't want this to be totally respectable, yanno... it's too much fun for any of that! Davis is so convincing that he will have you believing that he is, in fact, JFK.

The amazing thing about this movie is that the studios all turned Director Don Coscarelli down when he tried shopping the idea around. It didn't fit with their target market they said. Coscarelli wouldn't take no for an answer so he called in some favors and whipped up a shoe string budget.. 6 weeks later it was done filming and he hit all the major Film Festivals with it. It was a major hit, and well it should be. Coscarelli knows when he has a cult hit on his hands.. he was also responsible for the wonderful Phantasm and all it's sequels. heh.

The other thing is the sound track. Having limited funds to work with, Brian Tyler did everything himself. He composed all the music. He played all the instruments. He even sang. This is one talented pup, I'm tellin ya.

Bubba Ho-Tep runs an all too brief 92 minutes and is Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violent images. Well yeah. there's a mummy killin folks, there's gonna be violence.. there is not a lot of blood and gore though. Language, sure sure. Lots. One of the recurring themes is Elvis' diseased pecker, after all. heh. Funny as hell. Sexual content? Well there's a long panty shot of a chick bending over a waste basket.. and Elvis finally gets a hard on after all these years. Again, funny as hell. 15 and up.

Still balking at that hefty $23 price tag? Don't. These guys know what we want and they deliver. There are just tons of special features here. The usual commentary with Campbell and the Director, about 4 or 5 'making ofs' that are very interesting and fun, and even a reading of chapter one of the original novella by the author, Joe R. Lansdale. Most excellent, indeed.

An easy 5 stars from me on this one and I need to now rearrange my Best of 2002 List.... it's just that good.

Thank ya. Thank ya vera mush


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD