BUBBA HO-TEP

“Bubba” is a southern term for a good ol’ boy, a redneck; Ho-Tep is a centuries-old mummy. Combine the two and you have a redneck mummy at an East Texas rest home. A redneck mummy, that is, battling Elvis Presley and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Now if that sounds odd yet intriguing, then Bubba Ho-Tep is the film for you.

Once upon a time you couldn’t pick up a newspaper, tabloid or listen to talk radio without encountering the assertion that Elvis did not, in fact, die. Of course, many of the same people didn’t think he did drugs either, so it was easy to dismiss the people who could not let the King go. From 1990 to today, however, there has been very little on Elvis in the press, so the premise of Bubba Ho-Tep plays as fresh and original now. It seems Elvis (played by Bruce Campbell) was tiring of his life, so he switched identities with an impersonator named Sebastian Haff to get a rest. Well, one day at his trailer park a bar-b-q got out of control and the contract he had signed with Haff was destroyed. So he could never switch back. Ultimately Elvis finds himself in a rest home -- with JFK, played by Ossie Davis, who claims part of his brain has been replaced by sand, and explains that he is black only because that was the cleverest way to hide him. Trouble is, this rest home is plagued by huge, deadly cockroaches -- and a mummy that is stealing the souls of the people that reside there. Did I mention that JFK is wheelchair-bound and Elvis uses a walker?

JFK discovers Egyptian graffiti on the bathroom wall and convinces Elvis to help him battle the mummy. The story, by horror author Joe Lansdale, has one of the most creative plots to be translated to film in a decade. The director, Don Coscarelli of Phantasm and The Beastmaster fame, reveals an astonishing sensitive side to the story as well. When Elvis reflects on his life, and mentions wishing he had fired the Colonel, I doubt any rock and roller in the audience can keep from being moved. Because this film isn’t just about mentally and physically handicapped people doing battle against evil. Bubba Ho-Tep is about redemption. Saving your soul. And believing that Elvis can still be cool.

It may be too weird for some. Elvis has a growth on his dick that requires a special balm, and John F. Kennedy as a black man in a wheelchair may sound offensive, but if you like outrageous storytelling you won’t do better than Bubba Ho-Tep. That the film does not rely simply on shock, and is genuinely moving, is the icing on the cake. This film did not have to be as intelligent, as cool and wild as it is. Kudos to Bruce Campbell for bringing a range to Elvis he may not have had in real life, and to Ossie Davis for showing that he is not only one of the great black actors of our time, but also hip enough to read this script and want to be in on it. Even the bit players have memorable scenes, particularly Ella Joyce as a nurse applying medication to Little Elvis, who consequently finds out how Presley earned the name King. Everyone involved in this movie should be very proud of the finished work.

Wheelchair fu, walker fu, mummy fu, cockroach fu, Lone Ranger fu, balm on dick. P-faves Bruce Campbell, Don Coscarelli and Joe Lansdale. And a big welcome to Ossie Davis