neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Bubba Ho-Tep
	Don Coscarelli Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Reggie Bannister, Bob Ivy, Ella Joyce, Heidi Marnhout, Larry Pennell, Daniel Roebuck, Daniel Schweiger 2002		Begging for cult status from the get-go (and deserving it), the horror-comedy "Bubba Ho-Tep" leans on and relishes the B-movie wise-guy pedigree of its wry lead actor Bruce Campbell ("Army of Darkness," "Evil Dead II," TV's "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr."). Sneer in place, Campbell plays a man who insists he's the aging Elvis Presley, having switched places with an Elvis impersonator in the early '70s to gain freedom from the prison of fame. Unlike the Elvis who died ignominiously, this one lived through years of obscurity and is still alive in a Texas nursing home, although bedridden after a fall from a stage. It's a horrible life for the Man Who Says He's King, and it's going to get worse, because a shambling Egyptian mummy in cowboy hat and boots (the Bubba Ho-Tep of the title) is attacking the nursing home to suck up what morsels of life force are left in the patients. In order to save himself and anyone else in the vicinity, Elvis must grab his walker and join forces with fellow rest-home resident Jack (Ossie Davis), a black man who swears that he's John F. Kennedy. It's American legends (!?!) versus an undead assailant in an absurd, snappy, low-budget affair that's the equivalent of taking acid on the Graceland tour.