Return of "The King"
Can Elvis Defeat Bubba Ho-Tep?

First, you have to understand something. It's Bruce Campbell. For fans of B-grade horror like the Evil Dead series, he's something of an minor deity. Only he can take something as cheesy as Army of Darkness and make audiences laugh with the film instead of at it. For the past 20 years, Campbell has appeared in a couple of short-lived television series and done small parts in serious films, but if ever the ultimate underdog of Hollywood was going to get a chance to shine, this is it.

Bubba Ho-Tep
Elvis (Bruce Campbel) and JFK (Ossie Davis) team up to fight an ancient mummy that is sucking the life out of the residents of a Texas nursing home in the horror comedy Bubba Ho-Tep. (MGM, 2003)
Directed by: Don Coscarelli
Written by: Joe R. Lansdale (short story) and Don Coscarelli (screenplay)
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, and Bob Ivy

Rated R (for language, some sexual content and brief violent images)
Running time: 92 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 7 out of 10.

In Bubba Ho-Tep, Campbell has the roll of a lifetime. He plays Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. Sure, many have tackled the roll in numerous biopics, but none have ever played Elvis as an old man, defunct, and bereft of his former glory. None have ever played Elvis as a washed up, forgotten resident of a Texas nursing home. This isn't Elvis as he was. It's Elvis as he could have been. And though the mental image isn't always pretty, it's real, on-the-money, and downright hilarious.

Campbell's Elvis is living out his "golden" years in Shady Rest Nursing Home. How he got to be there is part of the story, but rest assured, this is really Elvis. Not that anyone believes him of course. The staff of Shady Rest play along with him, but according to their records, he's just another Elvis impersonator who has lost his marbles.

Elvis isn't the only "celebrity" at Shady Rest. Jack Kennedy (Ossie Davis) has been kept in Shady Rest ever since that day in Dallas when he was shot. The conspiracy, or so he says, was the work of Lyndon B. Johnson, Castro, the CIA, Jack Ruby, and Lee Harvey Oswald. The fact that "Jack" is a black man is of no concern to him. "They dyed me this color!" he tells Elvis. What better way to hide the former president?

When the elderly at Shady Rest begin to die on a fairly regular basis, Jack begins to sense another conspiracy. But this time, it's supernatural. So Jack and Elvis ban together to hunt down the evil plaguing the rest home. It's a story few could dream up. It's a role few (besides Campbell) could handle.

Campbell nails the role perfectly. Beneath layers of wig and makeup, he becomes the King. Audiences cease to see Campbell and see only Elvis. His voice is authentic, and without missing a beat, he can roll off the King's trademark "Thank you. Thankyouverymuch." From the King's mannerisms to his look, he hits every nuance and makes the character believable. This is essential because the story itself is so unbelievable. From a black JFK to an Egyptian mummy that wears a cowboy hat and boots, this story has enough about which audiences must suspend their disbelief. They don't have to do it with Campbell, too.

The comedy in Bubba Ho-Tep is dark, seeing humor in sad and often despairing situations. The mere image of Elvis with a walker striding beside a wheelchair-bound JFK is hilarious. Likewise, Elvis' internal monologue that voices his fleeting thoughts and his rather profound understanding of his situation are often vulgar but nonetheless comical.

Bubba Ho-Tep may be a pretty bizarre story. Sure, but it's more than that. Based on the award-winning short story by Joe R. Lansdale, the film emphasizes some truisms about our treatment of the elderly that makes the story relevant. Because the residents of Shady Rest are ignored by their caretakers, the story contains some sadness beneath the humor. The elderly's concerns about the "bugs" in the place are downplayed by management, and the things the elderly see are passed off as mere dreams. The elderly, thus, become easy targets for a soul-sucking mummy.

While many of the laughs come from seeing the elder Elvis and JFK take on a supernatural monster, these images bring to mind that the elderly are heroes too. They are capable of great things, and have done much with their lives. To see such souls diminish in a rest home, alone and forgotten, is the true horror.