Review: Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Bubba Ho-Tep is one of those movies that you decide to see not on the basis of reviews like this one, but depending rather on your immediate reaction to a brief description of the plot, like this:

An elderly man claiming to be Elvis fights a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy in an old-folks home in East Texas with the help of a black man who insists he's JFK.

Now. How did you feel about that description? Did you scratch your head and say, "...the hell?" If so, you should probably stop reading this review right now--Bubba Ho-Tep isn't for you.

If, on the other hand, you smiled broadly and said, "Hot damn tamale, baby!" then read on--Bubba Ho-Tep may be just what you've been looking for.

Bruce Campbell plays The King, who switches places with a particularly good Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff (also Campbell). Unfortunately, Haff has "a bad ticker" and dies on the throne at Graceland. Meanwhile, the real Elvis carries on, impersonating the impersonator until he throws out one of his swiveling hips in concert and lands in a nursing home, where, 20 years later, he lies in bed, gets around with a walker, worries that the bump on the end of his, er, royal staff is cancer, and basically waits to die. His nurse (Ella Joyce) is condescending at best and mocking at worst, and doesn't believe The King's story (the only documentation of the switch having been burned up in a "barbecue accident").

The only one at the nursing home who even halfway believes Elvis's story is Jack Kennedy (Ossie Davis), who may be operating under delusions of his own: he thinks he's JFK, despite (as Elvis helpfully points out) the fact that he's black--Jack claims his skin was dyed as part of the vast conspiracy to remove him from the presidency.

Jack is quite the conspiracy theorist--his walls are covered with photos of suspects in the Kennedy assassination--but both he and Elvis notice that something is very wrong at the nursing home. Residents are dying at a higher-than-usual rate, and scarabs crawl the walls and floors at night. Elvis is doubtful at first, but interested--more interested than he's been in anything for years. He and Jack investigate and, unlikely as it might seem, the culprit is a mummy who's sucking up the souls out of the old folks one at a time (and out of whatever orifice is handy--ew), so the souls won't go on to their final reward--and it's up to The King and The President to stop him.

The mummy himself is a cheeky devil, scrawling hieroglyphics on the bathroom walls (Jack translates them as "Cleopatra does the nasty"), wearing a wide-brim black hat and cursing out Elvis--in animated subtitles, no less. But how did he get to East Texas? How can he be defeated? What will set those souls free?

Bubba Ho-Tep is based on a story by horror/comic book writer Joe Lansdale and adapted by Don Coscarelli, writer/director of the Phantasm movies. Each likes a side of dark humor with their horror, so they're a great fit for each other, and Coscarelli has fun pitting the ancient terror against the octagenarians despite the obvious budget limitations (the scarabs look especially fake, and the mummy is best seen at a distance so his rubbery appliances don't look too phony).

With the comedy and monsters, though, there's a remarkable amount of respect and affection for both Elvis and JFK. And that's the main problem with Bubba Ho-Tep--it's so respectful of its subjects that neither the horror nor the humor to take hold properly. It's hard to laugh as Elvis muses about what he might have been and how he regrets never getting to know his daughter, Lisa Marie, the way he wanted to. Neither Elvis nor Jack display any superpowers--Elvis doesn't get back his karate moves, and Jack doesn't fly around in his wheelchair. That's as it should be, I suppose--that's pretty much how they'd move and act had they actually lived--but it might have been a better time for everybody involved--especially the audience--if a lighter touch had been applied throughout.

Bruce Campbell has always been a fine physical comedic actor, as amply displayed in the three Evil Dead movies, and those abilities serve him well here--he convincingly moves like an old man about ready to give up on life until he finds he has one last chance for self-respect, if not a graceful exit. (Campbell is less successful mimicking the younger Elvis's stage moves, but those scenes are brief.) Davis has more fun with Jack, maybe because his assertion of being the former president is more obviously absurd (though Jack does have a suspicious, large scar on the back of his head...could he be...?). He and Campbell have nice chemistry, and their scenes together are the reason to see Bubba Ho-Tep--they generate enough laughs and sympathy to make the whole movie worthwhile, especially in their preparations for the final showdown with the soul-sucker. Together, Campbell and Davis seem to be having some fun.

Bubba Ho-Tep could have done with more of that spirit. There's fun to be had as it is, for what it is--a comedy/drama/creature feature--but it could have been a whole lot more.