Bubba Ho-Tep

B-movie hero Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead series) is downright daring as an elderly though not dead Elvis (he traded places with an impersonator during the ‘70s), lingering in a depressing nursing home along with an also not dead JFK (dyed black after the 1963 assassination attempt and played here by Ossie Davis--yes, Ossie Davis), with whom he teams up to battle--are you still with me?--an ancient Egyptian mummy in Mud Creek, Texas. Maybe there's not enough Bubba Ho-Tep in Bubba Ho-Tep--director Don Coscarelli (working from a story by Joe R. Lansdale) didn't have the moolah to mount enormous battles with the undead mummy--but that's fine. This low-budget wonder, hardly the geek comfort food Campbell fans will expect, becomes a metaphor for all that's missing from the lives of the warehoused elderly, including dignity and a sense of purpose. Granted, there's a lot of crude earthiness in Elvis' obsessions with his lost life, his failing body, his invisibility to women (particularly tough considering he was a panties magnet), but Campbell (a very believable King; more so than the actual King in all those silly ‘60s movies) is downright heartbreaking, and the rejuvenation that Elvis finds in his adventure with JFK is surprisingly moving. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Don Coscarelli and costar Bruce Campbell; the other by “The King” [a.k.a. Bruce Campbell in character as Elvis]), an eight-minute excerpt from the original short story as read by author Joe R. Lansdale, a 47-minute four-part “making of” documentary, two deleted scenes with optional commentary, two minutes of “Footage from the Temple Room Floor,” a two-minute music video montage, a photo gallery, a TV spot and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a quirky, winning film.] (M. Johanson)[DVD Review—Aug. 7, 2007—MGM, 92 min., R, $22.98—Making its second appearance on DVD, 2003's Bubba Ho-Tep (Limited Edition) is exactly the same as the first release, but is packaged in a collectible Elvis-style DVD jacket. Bottom line: unless you need to win over an Elvis buff in your technical services department in order to speed up ordering and processing, you can stick with the initial “limited edition” release.]