Movie Night #53: Bubba Ho-Tep

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My buddy Andy has been hanging out with Arizon for I-don’t-know-how-long, but has apparently been reading the blogs and reviews for Movie Night.  Well, he’s back in the area, and was so excited about attending that he called me at 7:30pm to come over so he could be the first person to attend (the first person in the door gets to pick the three titles that the group votes on).  I was working out at the time, so he couldn’t show up until everyone else…around 9pm or so. 

His choices were “Sympathy for Mr. Vengence,” “The Princess Blade,” and “Bubba Ho-Tep.”  These movies have come up before as options, but I guess everyone was in a “B-Movie” mood, as we watched a Bruce Campbel classic!


     Movie Night #53:  Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
     Director:  Don Coscarelli
     Cast:  Bruce Campell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Heidi Marnhout
     Plot:  Elivs (Campbell) is alive and well and living in a nursing home, but no one believes that he’s the real deal.  Having switched with an Elvis-impersonator some years back in an attempt to dodge much of the negative points of being famous, Elvis lost his contract with the man who took his place in a small BBQ accident.  Now, he’s living a life with a potentially-cancerous puss on his manhood, and no desire to go on living. 

He befriends JFK (Davis), a man who claims that the government took his brain and replaced it with a bag of sand, and then dyed him black.  The two of them discover evidence that a mummy from ancient Egypt is sucking the souls of the residents to extend his own life, and they vow that he must be stopped. 

I saw this movie in theaters with Bruce Campbell, before it was actually released publically (a “pre-screening,” if you will…but I paid for it).  This was back when I went to get my copy of his book signed with Scott and Carl, “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor” (a book that I still have yet to get back from my cousin Justin).  It was brilliant then, and it’s brilliant now.  The performance of the cast was truely something to behold – a landmark for Bruce Campbell, and an impressive feat for Ossie Davis, who usually stars in more classic and renown works.  Many people questioned why Davis was even in this movie, thinking him a little “above” it.  Personally, I think he did it because the roll was just so much fun.  Unfortunately, this was the last performance of actor Ossie Davis. 

The movie is campy and fun, and sports the low-budget look and feel that you come to expect from a Bruce Campbell movie.  You can’t take anything that you see in this movie seriously – and if you do, you’ll enjoy it less.  The attack of the scarabs is particularly hilarious to watch, as they appear to be giant motorized rubber bugs – which is probably what they are. 

The movie does have some good messages about the elderly community and rest homes.  Having just finished up my own personal experience with them some years ago, when my Grandma died, I have come to realize that they are not always an enjoyable place to live, much less visit.  Themes about loneliness and a sense of worth are important themes to this movie, as they provide a person with the desire and drive to keep living.  Laura laughs at me whenever I try to derive deeper meaning from a flick that’s this silly, but I guess that “Film Interpretation” class I took in college won’t let me not look for a deeper meaning in the movies I watch. 

Take from it what you will, this flick is a bundle of laughs and good time with some friends. 

Next week:  Non-Movie Night #4!

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  • Mike
    Reply

    Excellent write up. I LOVED this movie.

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