BUBBA HO-TEP

ELVIS AND JFK VS. THE MUMMY

★★★★★ (A Must-See)

Director: Don Coscarelli

2002

When I was in high school, I dated a Danish foreign exchange student who invited me over to his host home because he couldn’t wait to show me Army of Darkness, but I had my own agenda—making out—and though I won the day and achieved my goal, I didn’t know until years later what I missed out on. I eventually watched the The Evil Dead movies, but my first introduction to Bruce Campbell was Bubba Ho-Tep, and what an introduction it was. Playing a geriatric Elvis who switched lives with an Elvis impersonator long ago and eventually wound up in a Texas nursing home, Campbell rips the scenery to shreds, convincing me that he is indeed the King. The movie also belongs to Ossie Davis, whose character claims he’s President John F. Kennedy (he says his skin was dyed after the assassination attempt), and is concerned that the strange noises in the building are Castro or Lyndon Johnson coming back to “finish the job.” These two old rascals play off one another beautifully, especially when they realize they must kill an ancient mummy in order to save the souls of their fellow patients.

Playing a geriatric Elvis who switched lives with an Elvis impersonator long ago and eventually wound up in a Texas nursing home, Campbell rips the scenery to shreds, convincing me that he is indeed the King.

A depressed Elvis, or an old man who believes he’s Elvis, spends his days trapped in bed at a nursing home, thinking about nothing but his next meal and how he hasn’t had an erection in twenty years. Thanks to flashbacks, we’re almost convinced he’s telling the truth, and because he’s an unreliable narrator, the premise of the killer mummy sucking souls out of elderly people is even more interesting. Are he and his buddy JFK both imagining this together, or is this evil creature really wandering the halls at night and writing graffiti in the bathroom? Both men handle the situation differently. For Elvis, a man resigned to his fate, it’s a reason to get out of bed, and for the more proactive Ossie, he can finally prove that one of his conspiracy theories is right. Besides having a great script and hilariously vulgar humor, Bubba-Ho-Tep perfectly captures the indignity of old age. The residents at the home are either ignored or babied as they sit around, waiting for death. After his roommate dies and the uncaring daughter cleans out the room and throws away his Purple Heart, Elvis ponders, “In the end, does anything really matter?”

When scarabs attack and monsters feed, Elvis and Jack have something to live for again: a final adventure, and they’re determined to make the most of it. Each night, the two men guard the halls and sometimes they’re successful and sometimes they’re not, but Elvis considers getting his mojo back a small victory. Having once commiserated about how life has forgotten them, Elvis and Jack are now two heroes who truly have nothing to lose. Bubba-Ho-Tep is lightning in a bottle, an absolute joy of a movie filled with more soul than the titular villain. It will get you thinking about how you treat your grandparents and the elderly, or rather, how you look at them, and you might just shed a tear. I'm willing to bet this movie will also make you smile.

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For more Miss Wilkes reviews, click HERE.

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