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Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
Reviewed on 2012 May 11
The spouse unearthed this little gem for me, and it’s as wrong, gleefully tasteless and funny as the title would indicate.
Elvis (Bruce Campbell) isn’t dead, my friends: he’s alive (but not well) in a dingy fourth-rate nursing home in Mud Creek, Texas. He wonders many things: how he fell from the King of Rock ’n’ Roll to another frail and aging puny mortal, if this is all there is to life…and most immediately, what is that strange growth, anyway? He can’t get any answers from the less-than-caring staff at this place; they won’t even believe he’s Elvis.
Soon E has bigger problems than boils or existential angst. He notices that some of the other residents of what will likely be his final home are dying horrible deaths. Apparently, a 3000-year-old mummy that steals souls has been plowing through the patients of Shady Rest as though they were cocktail peanuts. The only person who believes him is another resident (Ossie Davis) whose life story is even loonier than E’s.
It’s hard to create a silly horror flick and make it work, but they pulled it off here, and as a bonus veered from raunchy humor to some good points about the dismissal of the elderly. I think half the battle was getting Bruce Campbell to do this thing, because I can’t imagine anyone else playing the role with as much wit. Ossie Davis was equally good, but it’s even funnier if you watch it with no idea of who he’s supposed to be, so I’m not going to ruin that for you here. It’s not for everybody — the title and the DVD cover alone would tell you that — but if it’s your thing you’ll love it.
In honor of the King, three chocolate, peanut butter and banana morsels.
— Shukti
