Spring Break
Ian reviews B-rate movies. Bubba Ho-Tep
Ian Grogan
Issue date: 1/9/09 Section: Diversions
Bubba Ho-Tep
Four Stars
Runtime: 92 minutes
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis
Plot: Ex-Elvis impersonator suffers an injury and winds up believing he truly is the king of Rock 'n' Roll. Coupled with his sidekick, the African American JFK, the two find themselves in the middle of an ancient mystery.
This term I decided I am going to take things in a whole new direction and report on cheesy, low grade, poorly-funded B-Grade movies. I browsed Blockbuster for the best of the worst films I could find for your viewing pleasure. This week I found a golden nugget resting in the comedy section: Bubba Ho-Tep.
I figured if I am going to be covering B movies, the best place to start is Bruce Campbell, a personal favorite, and king of the underground cult movie scene. You may have heard of Evil Dead or Army of Darkness, and you may have seen him in his brief cameos in the Spiderman series, however you probably have never heard of his lesser-known hidden gem.
Bruce Campbell plays Sebastian Taff, an ex-Elvis impersonator who had an accident on stage and now believes he, himself, is Elvis. He is elderly, raunchy and offensive, a perfect role for Campbell. Elvis is trapped in a retirement home in Texas with a wide variety of senile geriatrics, including his friend and fellow colleague Jack (Ossie Davis). Jack is a fellow senile retiree who thinks that he is JFK (which adds to the humor, seeing as Jack is African American).
The two notice a few strange things going on around the home, and are startled by a strange shadowy figure, which is introduced as Lyndon Johnson coming back for Jack to "finish the job." Elvis is awakened one night by a strange scuttling noise coming from Jack's room. After much deliberation, Jack convinces Elvis that the figure is a resurrected mummy out looking for souls to steal, by sucking them out of the residents' hind quarters.
Jack leads Elvis to the men's room stall where he finds hieroglyphs left as graffiti, which Jack translates as "Pharaoh gobbles donkey goobers," and "Cleopatra does the nasty." Jack tells Evlis that he has come to the conclusion that the mummy feeds on the souls of the elderly and uses their clean restrooms to relieve himself.
Four Stars
Runtime: 92 minutes
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis
Plot: Ex-Elvis impersonator suffers an injury and winds up believing he truly is the king of Rock 'n' Roll. Coupled with his sidekick, the African American JFK, the two find themselves in the middle of an ancient mystery.
This term I decided I am going to take things in a whole new direction and report on cheesy, low grade, poorly-funded B-Grade movies. I browsed Blockbuster for the best of the worst films I could find for your viewing pleasure. This week I found a golden nugget resting in the comedy section: Bubba Ho-Tep.
I figured if I am going to be covering B movies, the best place to start is Bruce Campbell, a personal favorite, and king of the underground cult movie scene. You may have heard of Evil Dead or Army of Darkness, and you may have seen him in his brief cameos in the Spiderman series, however you probably have never heard of his lesser-known hidden gem.
Bruce Campbell plays Sebastian Taff, an ex-Elvis impersonator who had an accident on stage and now believes he, himself, is Elvis. He is elderly, raunchy and offensive, a perfect role for Campbell. Elvis is trapped in a retirement home in Texas with a wide variety of senile geriatrics, including his friend and fellow colleague Jack (Ossie Davis). Jack is a fellow senile retiree who thinks that he is JFK (which adds to the humor, seeing as Jack is African American).
The two notice a few strange things going on around the home, and are startled by a strange shadowy figure, which is introduced as Lyndon Johnson coming back for Jack to "finish the job." Elvis is awakened one night by a strange scuttling noise coming from Jack's room. After much deliberation, Jack convinces Elvis that the figure is a resurrected mummy out looking for souls to steal, by sucking them out of the residents' hind quarters.
Jack leads Elvis to the men's room stall where he finds hieroglyphs left as graffiti, which Jack translates as "Pharaoh gobbles donkey goobers," and "Cleopatra does the nasty." Jack tells Evlis that he has come to the conclusion that the mummy feeds on the souls of the elderly and uses their clean restrooms to relieve himself.
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