Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) | 31 Days of Horror: Oct 6

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It’s just Jack and the King fighting a good ole mummy, baby!

Bubba Ho-Tep is a fun, and not too scary film that never takes itself too seriously. It connects some great character actors with a bizarre premise to make a truly unique film.

Before Viewing

After showing a number of accolades received by the film, this trailer sets forth a very strange premise: what if Elvis and JFK had to work together to stop a mummified Egyptian soul sucker? Except that it’s an Elvis impersonator, and a black man that thinks he’s JFK. Oh, and they’re in a nursing home. The creature is feeding on the residents, and it’s up to these two old men to stop it. This film could only be brought to audiences by Don Coscarelli.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

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After Viewing

A brief German newsreel, from what looks like the 1940s, reveals that the tomb of Amon Ho-tep has been found and his mummy will soon travel the world as an exhibit. In the present day, at a convalescent home in Mud Creek, Texas, an elderly female patient is attacked by a scarab and then an unseen creature. Resident Sebastian Haff (Bruce Campbell) who believes that he is Elvis Presley, is upset because of a growth on his “pecker.” His elderly roommate (Harrison Young), whom Sebastian calls “Bull,” has a coughing fit and passes away.

Bull’s daughter, Callie (Heidi Marnhout) arrives and begins throwing out her father’s belongings including a Purple Heart. Sebastian relates his story to the woman refuting the lie that he is an Elvis impersonator, as mentioned by his nurse (Ella Joyce). He claims he really is Elvis and switched places with Sebastian Haff, to get away from the dark side of fame. Sebastian was the one that died in the 70s, and now he’s stuck in this nursing home.

The only person that believes him is Jack (Ossie Davis), a black man who believes he is JFK. Jack claims that his brain was stolen by the government and his skin was dyed black as part of a conspiracy. Sebastian, or Elvis as he prefers to be called humors Jack. That night Elvis is attacked by a scarab and manages to kill it. When he tells Jack, the other man believes something weird is going on and that an “assassin” was sent for him.

Jack tells him about the odd deaths of several residents and shows him some Egyptian hieroglyphics in one of the toilet stalls, which translate, roughly, into rude Egyptian graffiti. He believes that there is an ancient soul sucker living near the rest home that feasts on the elderly souls. And the fact that the residents are old prevents suspicion from being raised. While they are investigating, an electrical disturbance in the hallway alerts them to a slow walking mummy, wearing a cowboy hat and boots: Bubba Ho-Tep.

As the soul sucker passes Elvis, the King gets a flash of memories about the monster. The mummies bus was stolen from the traveling tour and crashed off a bridge into the river near the rest home. Now the creature comes out every few nights to feed. Elvis decides that they need to kill the mummy after realizing his life is filled with all kinds of regrets. Both he and Jack come up with a plan, dress in their finest clothes, and head out of the rest home one night to slay the beast.

Jack falls asleep in his wheelchair when Bubba Ho-Tep comes for Elvis. Elvis defends himself, but the mummy disappears, only to attack Jack, gravely injuring him. Jack dies after giving Elvis a poorly written rhyme to ward off evil. Elvis gets into Jack’s wheelchair and rams Bubba Ho-Tep, flinging the two of them down a small ridge. Using a spray bottle of flammable fluid, he ignites the mummy, ending its killing spree and saving his soul. Looking up at the heavens, the stars align into a message that translates to “all is well,” just before Elvis dies.

“How could I have gone from the king of rock’n’roll to this? An old guy in a restroom in East Texas with a growth on his pecker.” – Elvis

The history of horror films has made for plenty of comedies and parodies of the genre. Films that either take themselves a little less than seriously, or ones that are outright spoofs of the material. 31 Days of Horror has looked at its share of these lighter films, including Tucker & Dale Vs Evil, The Final Girls, and Night of the Creeps. They all have varying levels of comedic tone, lighter scares, and tongue-in-cheek delivery of horror elements. But none of them have anything on Bubba Ho-Tep.

Directed by Don Coscarelli, who is responsible and mainly known for the Phantasm series, and also created the original Beastmaster film, Bubba Ho-Tep has a strong comic book tone connecting horror elements to the premise of Elvis and JFK fighting a mummy in a Texas rest home. All of his films have a wry sense of humor about them, which has increased on recent films. Phantasm is considered one of the scariest films of all time, but still has some moments of weirdness and humor. Bubba Ho-Tep turns that on its ear, being more comedic and less scary than many other films.

The film feels more like the idea for a student film or cinematic short that was stretched out to fit into a theatrical length movie. It definitely takes advantage of both Ossie Davis and most certainly Bruce Campbell in the lead roles. But that star power can only take the film so far. Instead of being a film about a mummy that was stolen and now spends its nights feeding on the aged folks in a convalescent home, it’s really a film about a man who believes himself to be Elvis Presley. Or maybe he is Elvis?

Sebastian Haff is a truly unreliable narrator in the film. Having the name may be a nod to the fact that he is now “half” a man, with his “pecker” having cancer and all. He is introduced to the audience by the nurse as an Elvis impersonator who broke his hip and was committed to the facility. But his internal monologue of which the audience is privy to, explains that he is the real Elvis, having switched places with Sebastian in the mid 70s, just before Sebastian had a heart attack–leading the world to believe that Elvis Presley was dead. The film seems to believe that we are watching the real, yet aged, Elvis as well.

This only gets more bizarre when a black man is introduced that believes he is Jack Kennedy (dyed this color to make him seem crazy). He claims that part of his brain was stolen and sand was stuffed in his head to fill the void, and that President Johnson is out to get him. The narrator seems to think Jack is a little crazy too, until the small scar on the back of his neck is revealed. Could this man have JFKs brain inside his body? The filmmakers seem to make him out as a person who definitely believes things that are not real, like reanimated soul suckers wandering the halls of Shady Rest. But that turns out to be true as well.

Bubba Ho-Tep in its final form is a tall tale told around a campfire. Is it a bunch of hogwash or is there some truth scattered throughout? Coscarelli seems to believe it, and if audiences are in the right frame of mind, they can too. It’s a film more about how society handles aging and old people. The younger generation sticks the aging parents into rest homes and then forgets about them until they die. Elvis does not want to be forgotten like his roommate. And as the victor in protecting Shady Rest from the soul sucking of Bubba Ho-Tep, he won’t soon be forgotten.

Assorted Musings

• The film promises a sequel, Bubba Nosferatu, Curse of the She-Vampires, but that has yet to emerge. Instead a prequel comic, based on a prequel novella, Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers was released in 2018.
• This film’s outlandish premise may have also inspired horror crossovers like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.