Bubba Ho-tep is a 2002 horror-black comedy film starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley - now a resident in a nursing home. The film version also stars Ossie Davis as Jack, a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy (explaining that he was patched up after the assassination in Dallas, dyed black, and abandoned by Lyndon Johnson.) The film was directed by Don Coscarelli. The title comes from a novella by Joe R. Lansdale which originally appeared in the anthology The King Is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem.
The movie was originally "road showed" by the director across the country. Only 32 prints were made and circulated around various film festivals garnering critical success, and was only given limited release on the big screen. By the time it was released on DVD it had already achieved cult status due to positive reviews, lack of access, and inclusion of (and similar on-the-road hard work by) Bruce Campbell.
While the novella and film revolve around an Ancient Egyptian mummy (played by Bob Ivy) terrorizing a retirement home, Bubba Ho-tep also involves the deeper theme of aging and growing old in a culture that values only the young. The film also features a cameo by Reggie Bannister, the cult hero of director Don Coscarelli's Phantasm series.
Many of Bubba Ho-tep's crew also worked on the films in Coscarelli's Phantasm series. A partial list includes producer Jason R. Savage, assistant director Rosa Gonzalez, actors Heidi Marnhout, Bob Ivy, and Reggie Bannister, production designer Daniel Vecchione, costume designer Shelley Kay, make-up artist Melanie A. Kay, special effects artist D. Kerry Prior and Robert Kurtzman, Gregory Nicotero, Howard Berger, first assistant camera operator Precy C. Betiong, editor Scott J. Gill, the original Phantasm's sound mixer Paul Ratajczak, original phantasm producer Dac Coscarelli, Phantasm III & IV cinematographer Chris Chomyn and art director Justin Zaharczuk.
Plot
During the 1970s, when Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) grew tired of the demands of his fame, he switched places with an Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff (also played by Campbell). It was Haff who eventually died on the toilet in 1977, while the real Elvis lived in quiet, happy anonymity and made a living pretending to be himself. After a propane explosion destroyed documentation which was the only proof that he was actually Elvis Presley, he was rendered unable to return to his old lifestyle.
A hip injury during a performance causes him to get an infection and slip into a coma. Twenty years later, in an East Texas nursing home as the movie opens, he is contemplating his age, frailty, loss of dignity, impotence, and "A growth on [his] pecker".
Elvis's only friend is a black man named Jack (Ossie Davis) who insists he is President John F. Kennedy, claiming to have been dyed black after the assassination attempt, and abandoned in a nursing home. The truth behind his identity remains unclear, but Elvis does spot a mysterious scar on the back of Jack's head. It could be from the head wound seen in the Zapruder film, but then it might not be.
Most of the film's plot is driven by Elvis' internal monologue, as he reminisces about his life and ponders his condition.
Eventually, Elvis and Jack face off against a re-animated ancient Egyptian mummy that was stolen during a U.S. museum tour and then lost during a severe storm in East Texas when the bus being driven by the thieves veers off the road and into a river near the nursing home. The mummy strangely takes on the garb of a cowboy and is dubbed Bubba Ho-tep by Elvis who is given a telepathic flashback of the mummy's life and death when he looks into its eyes following its murder of an elderly woman at the home. The slow, plodding mummy is a real and credible threat, as instead of going against young adults who could potentially outrun it, the mummy gives chase to the elderly heroes who lack mobility and need a motorized wheelchair and a walker to get around the grounds.
After hatching an elaborate plan Elvis and Jack manage to destroy the mummy, and the trapped souls of their dead friends appear to be released to their final resting place. In the process of defeating the mummy, Elvis and Jack are themselves mortally wounded. Since much of the film establishes the protagonists as pathetic and even insane, their deaths are portrayed as especially heroic and honorable. As he lies near the river dying, Elvis gets confirmation that his soul is prepared to move on as he looks up into the stars and sees the message "ALL IS WELL" spelled out in Egyptian hieroglyphs; his final words are classic Elvis: "thank you, thank you very much." With that, he dies.
Cast
Bubba Nosferatu
A film suggested in the credits for Bubba Ho-tep, Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires, was discussed. In a DVD 'making of' documentary, Coscarelli said this was originally intended as a joke, however, due to positive fan response to the film, a sequel was a possibility. He then went on to speculate he would like to make a sequel documenting the production of a 'lost' Elvis movie from the 1950s or 1960s. Bubba Nosferatu never entered production, though Bruce Campbell, Don Coscarelli and Paul Giamatti (as Colonel Tom Parker) were reportedly attached to the project.
In late August 2007, Bruce Campbell said he was no longer involved in Bubba Nosferatu.[1] Joe Lansdale later confirmed that the project was dead.[2]
On Oct. 30, 2008, Ain't It Cool News posted an exclusive interview with Paul Giamatti -- still slated to appear as Colonel Tom Parker -- in which he said the movie Bubba Nosferatu is still alive. Giamatti said that Ron Perlman is "interested in playing Elvis."[3]
On Dec. 11, 2008, In an interview on the Cort and Fatboy Show Campbell stated that he will not be part of the film due to creative differences and writer changes.
During the Monster Mania Convention on March 14, 2009, Don Coscarelli stated that the film will likely be released sometime from 2010-2012. Don also said that future Bubba sequels may have different actors playing Elvis each time.
See also
References
External links
