Cheapo DVD Review: Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

I've been working my way through a stack of 2nd hand DVDs I picked up from CEX on payday and I promised myself I would write a review of every damn one. For tonight's offering, we have a quirky horror with a unique premise and more depth than you'd expect.

  In a small, run down nursing home in east Texas the man formerly known as Elvis Aaron Presley reflects on his life and his decision to walk away from fame and fortune. But when his fellow OAPs start dying, Elvis and his friend Jack - who swears blind that he's JFK despite being both alive and African American - have to face a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy in cowboy boots.
 Can the King  Take Care Of Business one last time?

 Bubba Ho-Tep has been on two separate lists ever since I found out about it. Films I want to see and Films I'm nervous about seeing.  When you think about the premise, can you really blame me?  This had the potential to be really good or a complete train-wreck.

As it turns out, "Bubba Ho-Tep" is the former rather than the latter.

  For some reason this film really got under my skin and a  lot of that is down to Bruce Campbell's performance as an Elvis who is unhappy with his current life and regretting the life he had. Some of it is comic but there's a strong undercurrent of tragic as well.
 Maybe I'm reading things into this film that the writers never meant to put there but Bubba Ho-Tep isn't just  film about a soulsucking mummy, it's a film about being old and past your time.

  It's also a film where a black JFK and Elvis have a conversation about whether a mummy needs to crap or not. Then you get a lesson in Ancient Egyptian profanity. So not all that bleak.

  The film builds slowly until the first appearance of the creature, which is genuinely chilling. Campbell and Freeman play off each other really well, taking a couple of characters that ought to be ridiculous and making them work.
That, I think, sums up "Bubba Ho-Tep" - a daft idea that works.

How much did I pay for this: 75p
Was it worth it: Very definitely. I enjoyed this film more than anything I've watched thus far in this DVD marathon.

Although I am now utterly terrified of getting old... 

That's all folks.