Bubba Ho-Tep

I watched Bubba Ho-Tep with Bruce Campbell. For anyone who's into independent films (Six String Samurai comes to mind) or just strange movies, this is definitely worth checking out.

Synopsis - Elvis (Bruce Campbell) never died, he changed places with one of his impersonators to escape his own fame. Then he broke his hip and went into a coma. Bottom line is that now he's living in a nursing home, where everyone assumes he's just a delusional impersonator, and has a nasty growth in his nether regions that he keeps fixating on. But now a soul sucking mummy haunts this place, killing off the elderly one by one. So the King teams up with an old black guy who's convinced he's JFK, to take out "this Bubba Ho-Tep".

Every time I heard about this film, the premise sounded dumber or just plain retarded. But each and every one of the reviews says that the real genius is Bruce Campbell, who pulls off a convincingly old, regretful and melancholy Presley without resorting to obvious comedy.

I watched this film and though it's as corny as it sounds, it's a damn good film! Despite the fact that for the first 20 minutes or so Elvis doesn't even get out of bed, Bruce Campbell's performance made me laugh, feel sympathy for the King's circumstances, even connect with the character's sense of loss and frustration. As crazy as the story sounds, it not only doesn't fall flat on its face but actually holds together and maintains your interest to the very end.

One added bonus is the commentary track, which is performed by the King himself. I didn't listen to the whole thing, but in the first few minutes he rambled on about popcorn, wondered what kind of film this was, figured it was pretty serious, then got back to his popcorn.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't The Mummy - this film was made on a shoestring budget. But for as crazy as it sounds, it's a far better film than something like League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen!