BUBBA HO-TEP

Everyone thought he was dead, but Elvis "The King" Presley is still alive and well and resides in a quiet nursing home in Texas. It has been several years since the "King" decided to change his life, abandoning his fame and fans, and therefore also decided to swap his name with that of Sebastian Haff (his number one lookalike). The days pass slowly at the nursing home, called "Shady Rest," and Sebastian begins to feel a certain nostalgia for the times when he was young, famous, and loved by fans... in short, the nostalgia of when he was still Elvis Presley. But something is about to shake the tranquility that pervades the nursing home; an old mummy, disguised as a cowboy and eager for human souls to survive, begins to reap victims among the elderly residents of "Shady Rest." It will be the old Elvis himself who discovers the terrible threat and fights it, accompanied in the mad undertaking by a strange man of color and in a wheelchair, also admitted to the nursing home, who claims to be none other than John Fizgerald Kennedy. Directed in 2002 by Don Coscarelli (the "Phantasm" series), this "Bubba Ho-Tep" is a strange film that attempts to beat the already quite exploited path of horror-comedy. The film quickly gained, almost unanimously, the nickname of "cult" creating from the start a real circle of fans ready to worship and exalt this bizarre film. But the film is far from being that "cult" that many have led us to believe, in fact, it is even strange to notice the stunning success and acclaim that the film has received. If one wonders what this excessive consensus is due to, the most reasonable answer lies in the intelligent combination made between the protagonist of the film and the star used to portray him. The film, as is deducible from the plot, revolves around one of the most famous characters (perhaps the most famous?) in the musical universe, Elvis Presley, a true icon of Rock 'n' Roll and therefore a character of undeniable interest and charm. To portray him is Bruce Campbell, an actor who has become a legend thanks to brilliant past performances (who hasn't seen him in the role of Ashley "Ash" Williams in the film "Evil Dead"?) and has become an icon of horror cinema. Since mathematics is not an opinion and therefore two plus two will always equal four, it is normal that combining the icon of the musical universe with the icon of the horror cinematic universe would undoubtedly have yielded good fruits; and indeed it has been! The only merits of the film, in fact, are found both in the basic plot (it has a certain effect to see Elvis Presley act in a horror film) and in the magnificent performance of Bruce "Ash" Campbell in the role of Elvis "The King" Presley; although the good Campbell is now unfairly condemned to marginal roles or minor films, he is still capable of offering magnificent performances worthy of remaining impressed in the imagination of any good cinephile. Bruce proves that he enjoyed playing Elvis and also that he worked a lot on his character because he manages to imitate him in the best way possible, both in his movements and in his speech. But it is fair to emphasize that Bruce is not the only capable actor present in this film because he is flanked by a great and very sympathetic Ossie Davis (here in the role of Kennedy), who unfortunately passed away in February 2005. Too bad that with the compliments to the film we have to stop here; for the rest this "Bubba Ho-Tep" is really poor stuff! A first aspect to be subjected to easy criticism is precisely the direction of the good Coscarelli who does not prove to be up to the task in handling the basic subject because he is always strongly undecided on the path to take: horror or comedy? In the indecision, Coscarelli decides not to take either of the two paths, generating an anomalous and unqualifiable product: too weak and not funny enough to be a comedy but at the same time too stupid to be a horror. But the problems do not stop at the direction. The biggest flaw is found in the disastrous screenplay (to which Coscarelli himself contributed) that never manages to provide a minimum of rhythm to the film; the pace will therefore be at best weak and at times soporific. Moreover, a completely wrong thing is the presence of an excessive use of foul language, too intrusive, which can only make the spectator wrinkle his nose because extremely useless and out of place. Even in the ending, the moment in which the spectator hopes for something more "exciting" compared to the minutes passed, the situation does not want to liven up and everything turns out rather prolix and devoid of a good climax. If one wants, one could spend a few small positive words for the look of the cowboy mummy, but even this turns out to be poorly exploited because there are few scenes in which one can see it act. In conclusion "Bubba Ho-Tep" is a hugely overrated film that supports all its fame only and exclusively on the magnificent performance of Bruce Campbell but that, for the rest, has really no other interesting and admirable point to offer.