Of course it was. Anyone can Google Bubba Ho-tep:
Elvis Presley and a black "JFK" stay in a nursing home where nothing
happens - until a wayward Egyptian mummy comes and sucks out the old
people's souls thru their a-holes. The two decide to fight back.
Bubba Ho-Tep
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This article is about the film. For the novella it is based on, see
Bubba Ho-Tep (novella).
Bubba Ho-tep
Bubba Ho-Tep release poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Don Coscarelli
Produced by Don Coscarelli
Jason R. Savage
Screenplay by Don Coscarelli
Based on Bubba Ho-Tep
by Joe R. Lansdale
Starring Bruce Campbell
Ossie Davis
Ella Joyce
Heidi Marnhout
Bob Ivy
Narrated by André Sogliuzzo
Music by Brian Tyler
Cinematography Adam Janeiro
Edited by Scott J. Gill
Donald Milne
Production
company
Silver Sphere Corporation
Distributed by Vitagraph Films
Release date
June 9, 2002
Running time
92 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1 million
Box office $1.2 million[1]
Bubba Ho-Tep is a 2002 American comedy horror film written, co-produced
and directed by Don Coscarelli. It stars Bruce Campbell as Elvis
Presley—now a resident in a nursing home. The film also stars Ossie
Davis as Jack, a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy, explaining
that he was patched up after the assassination, dyed black, and abandoned.
It is based on novella of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale, which
originally appeared in the anthology The King Is Dead: Tales of Elvis
Post-Mortem. Originally the film was "roadshowed" by the director across
the country. Only 32 prints were made and circulated around various film
festivals, though these garnered critical success. By the time it was
released on DVD, it had already achieved cult status due to positive
reviews, lack of access, and inclusion of (and similar on-the-road hard
work by) Campbell.
While the novella and film revolve around an ancient Egyptian mummy
(played by Bob Ivy) terrorizing a retirement home, Bubba Ho-tep also
deals with the deeper theme of aging and growing old in a culture that
values only the young. The film also features a cameo by Reggie
Bannister from Coscarelli's Phantasm series.
Contents
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Critical reception
5 Proposed sequel
6 References
7 External links
Plot
An elderly man (Bruce Campbell) at The Shady Rest Retirement Home in
East Texas is known to the staff as Sebastian Haff, but claims to be the
real Elvis Presley. He explains that during the 1970s, he grew tired of
the demands of his fame and switched places with an Elvis impersonator
named Sebastian Haff (also Campbell). He claims it was Haff who
eventually died in 1977, while he, the real Elvis, lived in quiet, happy
anonymity and made a living pretending to be himself. After a propane
explosion destroyed documentation which was the only proof that he was
actually Elvis, he was unable to return to his old lifestyle.
A hip injury during a performance causes him to get an infection and
slip into a coma. Twenty years later and living at the retirement home
as the film opens, he is contemplating his age, frailty, loss of
dignity, impotence, and "A growth on [his] pecker". Elvis's only friend
is a black man named Jack (Ossie Davis) who insists he is President John
F. Kennedy, claiming to have been dyed black after an assassination
attempt, and abandoned by Lyndon Johnson in a nursing home. Initially
skeptical of Jack's story, Elvis does spot a mysterious scar on the back
of Jack's head. It could be from the head wound seen in the Zapruder
film, but then it might not be.
Eventually, Elvis and Jack face off against a re-animated ancient
Egyptian mummy that was stolen during a U.S. museum tour, and then lost
during a severe storm in East Texas when the thieves' bus veered into a
river near the nursing home. The mummy strangely takes on the garb of a
cowboy and feeds on the souls of the residents of the home. It is dubbed
'Bubba Ho-Tep' by Elvis, who is given a telepathic flashback of the
mummy's life and death when he looks into its eyes. The slow, plodding
mummy is a real and credible threat, as instead of going against young
adults who could potentially outrun or overpower it, the mummy gives
chase to the elderly. Jack and Elvis lack mobility and need a motorized
wheelchair and a walker to get around the grounds.
Elvis and Jack create an elaborate plan to destroy the mummy.
Destruction of the mummy would release the trapped souls of their dead
friends, and they would be able to go to their final resting place.
Elvis and Jack battle the mummy in the middle of the night, with Jack in
an electric wheelchair and Elvis wielding a makeshift flamethrower. Jack
is knocked out of his wheelchair by the mummy and is about to have his
soul sucked. Elvis hops in the wheelchair, zooms into the mummy to save
Jack, and damages the flamethrower, getting a large gash in his abdomen
in the process. Jack dies from a heart attack. Elvis becomes committed
to getting rid of the mummy, and he throws the gasoline on him and then
throws matches at him, killing the mummy.
Elvis lies on a hill near the river bank, dying from the blood loss from
the gash and broken ribs. He talks in his mind about how he doesn't fear
death, knowing that he still had his soul and that he saved all of the
fellow people at the Shady Rest Retirement Home. As he reflects upon
this, the stars align into a message for Elvis, saying: "all is well".
With a dying "Thank you, thank you very much", Elvis passes away.
Cast
Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley / Sebastian Haff
Ossie Davis as John F. "Jack" Kennedy
Ella Joyce as The Nurse
Heidi Marnhout as Callie Thomas
Bob Ivy as Bubba Ho-tep
Larry Pennell as Kemosabe
Reggie Bannister as Rest Home Administrator
Daniel Roebuck as Hearse Driver
Production
Many of Bubba Ho-tep's crew also worked on the films in Coscarelli's
Phantasm series. Several actors from the series also have small roles
including Heidi Marnhout, Bob Ivy, and Reggie Bannister. Coscarelli kept
much of the original short story's exposition, but had some difficulty
trying to "integrate Elvis' voice".[2]
Critical reception
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a rating of 79% based on 107
reviews, and an average of 6.8/10.[3] The site's consensus was a
tongue-in-cheek statement, "The best movie to star both the King and
JFK."[3] Metacritic gives it a weighted average rating of 57/100 based
on 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[4]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars
saying, "This absurdly clever caper is elevated by Bruce Campbell's
pensive Elvis into a moving meditation on the diminutions of age and the
vagaries of fame."[5] Todd McCarthy of Variety gave a negative review
stating, "[The] introduction of the mummy plot basically derails the
film at about the 45-minute point, and the silly climax...is so rote and
generic that it could have come out of any ordinary horror film.",
although McCarthy does admit, "Campbell's Elvis stands as one of the
very best screen interpretations of the King seen thus far, even if he's
arguably not even playing the real thing."[6]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four
stars and highlighted the film's "delightful wackiness" and stating, "It
has the damnedest ingratiating way of making us sit there and grin at
its harebrained audacity, laugh at its outhouse humor, and be somewhat
moved (not deeply, but somewhat) at the poignancy of these two old men
and their situation."[7]
Proposed sequel
Initially Coscarelli never intended to create a sequel to Bubba Ho-Tep,
as the end credits announcement of a second film entitled Bubba
Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires was meant to be seen as a joke.[8]
He eventually changed his mind about this after seeing the positive
reception for the first film and after several people inquired about
when the sequel would release.[8] The sequel would center around the
production of a 'lost' Elvis movie from the 1950s or 1960s, and would
bring in Paul Giamatti as Colonel Tom Parker.
In 2007 Bruce Campbell reported that he was no longer involved in the
sequel, as he and Coscarelli had "a few points [developing the
screenplay] that we couldn't reconcile" and that he parted ways with the
project as a way of keeping his friendship with the director.[9] The
project was briefly reported as "dead" by Joe Lansdale in February
2008,[10] but later that same year Giamatti asserted that the film was
still alive and that Ron Perlman was interested in taking over the role
of Elvis.[11] Due to the amount of time that had passed since the
release of Bubba Ho-Tep, Coscarelli and Giamatti had trouble raising
funding for the film and the movie went back into development hell.[12]
However Giamatti reported that they were still trying to get the film
made and that they had plans to create a franchise that would include
plot lines such as Elvis battling aliens.[12][13] As of 2013 Giamatti
has confirmed that a script has been written and that it was "really
great", and that he hoped that they would be able to eventually make the
film.[14]
In 2018, IDW Publishing released a five-issue limited series prequel,
Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers. The series was supervised by
Lansdale, written by Joshua Jabcuga, and illustrated by Tadd
Galusha.[15] In 2019, Dynamite Entertainment published a four-issue
crossover miniseries, Army of Darkness / Bubba Ho-Tep, which saw Elvis
team up with Bruce Campbell's iconic character, Ash Williams.[16]
References
Bubba Ho-tep at Box Office Mojo
"Quint on BUBBA HO-TEP + Interview with Coscarelli, Bruce Campbell and
Joe Lansdale!!!". AICN. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
Bubba Ho-tep at Rotten Tomatoes
Bubba Ho-tep at Metacritic
"Bubba Ho-Tep". Rolling Stone. June 9, 2004. Archived from the original
on June 10, 2004. (subscription required)
McCarthy, Todd (2002-06-26). "Bubba Ho-Tep". Variety. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
Ebert, Roger (2003-10-17). "Bubba Ho-Tep". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved
2010-11-21.
Paszylk, Bartlomiej (2009). The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films:
An Historical Survey. McFarland. p. 208. ISBN 0786436956.
Bartyzel, Monika (2007-08-28). "Bruce Campbell Won't Do 'Bubba
Nosferatu'". Moviefone. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05.
Retrieved 2010-11-21.
Crider, Bill (2008-02-25). "Joe Lansdale Update". Bill Crider's Pop
Culture Magazine. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
Vespe, Eric (2008-10-30). "AICN Exclusive: Hear who is filling Elvis'
jumpsuit in 'Bubba Nosferatu' from the mouth of Col. Parker himself, Mr.
Paul Giamatti!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
Wigler, Josh. "'Bubba Nosferatu' Could Become 'Bubba Roswell,' Paul
Giamatti Reveals". MTV. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
Wigler, Josh. "EXCLUSIVE: Paul Giamatti Says 'Bubba Nosferatu' Will Come
Together, Despite Financial Setbacks". MTV. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
Radish, Christina. "Paul Giamatti Talks JOHN DIES AT THE END, the HBO
Movie K BLOWS TOP, BUBBA NOSFERATU, and Steve McQueen's TWELVE YEARS A
SLAVE". Collider. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
Elvis Returns in Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers
ARMY OF DARKNESS/BUBBA HO-TEP #1
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Bubba Ho-Tep
Official website
Bubba Ho-Tep on IMDb
Bubba Ho-Tep at AllMovie
Bubba Ho-Tep at Box Office Mojo
Bubba Ho-Tep at Rotten Tomatoes
vte
Films directed by Don Coscarelli
Jim the World's Greatest (1976) Kenny & Company (1976) Phantasm
(1979) The Beastmaster (1982) Phantasm II (1988) Survival Quest (1989)
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994) Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) Bubba
Ho-Tep (2002) "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" (TV, 2005) John Dies
at the End (2012)
Categories:
English-language films2002 films2000s comedy horror filmsAmerican
filmsAmerican comedy horror filmsAncient Egypt in fictionCultural
depictions of John F. KennedyCultural depictions of Elvis PresleyElvis
Presley tributesFiction narrated by a dead personFilms about Elvis
PresleyFilms about John F. KennedyFilms based on American novelsFilms
directed by Don CoscarelliFilms scored by Brian TylerFilms set in
TexasMummy filmsVitagraph Studios filmsWorks by Joe R. Lansdale
> arrogantly accepted the government version of the story.
>
What is your game here?