Bubba Ho-Tep

by Mark Hugo, Benni Pierce, and Wade Stuckwisch

Last week, many of the Hoboes went to the New York premiere of the Bruce Campbell vehicle, Bubba Ho-Tep. This week, we've got triple the fun - Mark, Benni, and Wade have reviewed this massively humorous flick, with their keen cinematic eyes.

Mark Hugo's Take
Bruce Campbell rules, this time as the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, in Bubba Ho-tep. It turns out that Elvis didn’t die, but instead switched lives with an Elvis impersonator. Now he has to defend his retirement community from a soul-sucking mummy. Hail to the King.

It is probably already apparent that I enjoyed this movie. It runs a little slow, but I think it is more than appropriate since the main character is dealing with aging while struggling to find purpose in life. Any cutting would have detracted from the superb character development. As for technical tricks, the use of time lapse photography to represent the retirement home related activities going on around Elvis was an effective visual way to cast doubt on his sanity. Is he indeed the King of Rock and Roll, or merely an Elvis impersonator who has lost his marbles?

Or has Elvis lost it? Doesn’t matter, he’ll kick ass either way. By having a character that is at the same time both a celebrity and a noncelebrity the movie is able to explore the sadness of both an aging rock icon and the deterioration and alienation of a regular person facing their old age. This dichotomy of character ensures empathy within the audience.

Bruce Campbell’s amusing and haunting narrative ensnares the viewer and pulls them into his psychological struggle. I can identify with a man whose line between personal identity and public persona has blurred. Not sure why though.

That’s enough film wanking for now. I’m sure my comments will seem sparse compared to the likes of Wade and Benni. But then again, I worked for Troma, as apposed to their Miramax and Fountain Head, respectively. Trust me, they’re just trying to sound smart. Is Fountain Head a porn company, Benni? Hee, hee, head… Hee, hee, penis.

Benni Pierce's Take
Any actor will tell you that portraying a beloved icon past his or her prime is an extremely difficult deed. Attempting to capture the little nuances of that person are more important (and more difficult) than the name and the make-up and the costume alone. In essence, actors need to find a way to not only play this person, but become this person on screen. There can be no doubt or else the suspension of disbelief is broken.

In Bubba Ho-Tep, Bruce Campbell attempts to portray an aging Elvis Presley at the end of his days. Slowly living out his days in a rest home, Elvis finds a new resurgence of vitality when he and fellow rest home occupant, John F. Kennedy (played by Ossie Davis), discover that a cursed mummy is walking the halls, stealing the souls of the living.

Bruce does a fine job of capturing the King's mannerisms, everything from "...peanut butter and banana sandwiches..." to "Thank you. Thank you very much." But he goes deeper than these stereotypes, actually developing the character of the King, making him someone you care about, someone who has done wrong but now has a chance to make things better. I believe this movie acted as a near perfect closing chapter on the King's life, as Elvis (through voice over) attempts to sort out the wrongs from the rights. And in the end, the viewer realizes that he wasn't only a star, a drug user, an abuser, etc, but he was also a man like any other who made his share of mistakes.

Don't expect Evil Dead or Army of Darkness when you walk into this movie. It's a well-paced piece of cinema that puts more time into its characters than its plot. A must for any Bruce Campbell fan as this may very well be his best role yet.

Wade Stuckwisch's Take
What is it exactly that defines a "cult classic," besides a measurable lack of commercial profits upon release? Arguably, many films considered "classic" by fans are by no means quality films. Most often, what these films have is something unique, something that separates them from the maelstrom of cookie-cutter faire that we usually see in theaters. Perhaps it is a skewed take on reality, fresh to an audience's sensibilities. Perhaps it is a great comic performance or a dramatic performance so over-the-top that its absurdity elicits celebration. Perhaps the movie is just so profoundly awful that its success in burrowing so far below levels of mediocrity is an achievement in and of itself.

Bubba Ho-Tep is a movie bound to become a cult classic, if only due to its appeal to cultists of actor Bruce Campbell and devotees to the legacy of Elvis Presley. But transcending these features is a plot that is truly inspired, in cult cinema terms at least: a mummy is terrorizing a retirement home for the reticent in East Texas, and the task of stopping this ancient terror falls to an aging, clandestine Elvis Presley and a black man who claims to be JFK. To judge the quality of a film with such a brilliantly ludicrous plot almost seems superfluous. Story notwithstanding, the film is an effective and thoughtful reflection on aging and the elderly, and does this much better than any of Clint Eastwood's recent geriatric abominations. Ossie Davis's performance is both humorous and charming, and Bruce Campbell's impersonation of the aged King is a joy to witness. On the other hand, the film suffers from lethargy and a somewhat senile script. A film about two impuissant retirees is predisposed to dodder, but the pursuit of the mummy is slighted by an overindulgent pursuit of Elvis's back-story. Perhaps Elvis fans will be more enamored with the details of his convalescence, but the pursuit of the mummy becomes stretched so thin by the weight of Elvis's character development that the movie's climax and culmination feel irrelevant. But these faults should not detract from any audience member's enjoyment of Bubba Ho-Tep. I have my doubts a mainstream audience could ever become enamored with this movie, but for lovers of late-night horror, Elvis, and of course Bruce Campbell, this movie should be a delectable treat.

--released on the Great Hoboes of New York on October 9, 2003