A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Bubba Ho-Tep

Date of original theatrical release: 2002

Details:

Bruce Campbell (Elvis)

Ossie Davis (Jack)

Ella Joyce (The Nurse)

Heidi Marnhout (Callie)

Bob Ivy (Bubba Ho-tep)

Written & directed by: Don Coscarelli

Score: 0

The Review: EAP and JFK are alive and -- well, not so well -- in the Mud Creek Shady Rest convalescence home down in Texas. And yes, it really is Elvis Aaron Presley (Campbell, playing "The King") and ex-president Kennedy (Davis), or so we are led to believe. Although there is adequate evidence and a reasonable back-story provided for the veracity of the former, the latter may simply be crazy as a loon (after all, they dyed his entire skin a darker color to more effectively conceal him...: uh-huh). And their joint mission, should they decide their joints are mobile enough, is to track down a misplaced, stolen, soul-sucking ancient Egyptian mummy that is secretly, slowly feeding on the aging rest-home residents.

Off-the-wall doesn't begin to describe this kooky, quirky and occasionally dark comedy. It doesn't create a very attractive image of growing old, but that should come as no surprise: Cocoon is a rarity. I particularly liked JFK's description of having a part of his brain, extracted after the assassination attempt and replaced by tiny bags of sand, currently kept hidden in the White House and powered by batteries. Classic paranoid delusion, or is he just possibly being serious?

Novel, peculiar -- from the fertile brains who brought you Phantasm and Beastmaster, not that that's a selling point.

(4-Mar-07)

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