Not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but there's enough here to entertain even those for whom 'cult' is a four-letter word.
Bubba Ho-Tep (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:100
Fresh:78
Rotten:22
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: The best movie to star both the King and JFK.
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Don Coscarelli's BUBBA HO-TEP finds Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) alive but not so well, living in a small Texas nursing home. Although he's preoccupied with his ailments and his memories, the... Don Coscarelli's BUBBA HO-TEP finds Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) alive but not so well, living in a small Texas nursing home. Although he's preoccupied with his ailments and his memories, the elderly Elvis befriends another resident who thinks he's John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) when they both begin to suspect that their neighbors aren't dying of natural causes. Their investigation leads to the discovery of an evil mummy with a fondness for cowboy gear and an appetite for the souls of senior citizens. Armed with little more than a walker and a wheelchair, the King and JFK must take on this ancient evil. Based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale, BUBBA HO-TEP mixes comedy, drama, and horror to create a remarkably quirky film. As the aged and ailing Elvis, Campbell gives an outstandingly funny and poignant performance, while Davis exudes intelligence and warmth as JFK. Although horror is a key element of the story, much of the movie focuses on the life of Elvis and his new friendship with the former president, leading to many oddly comical scenes and even a few genuinely touching moments. Of course, their embalmed foe and his creepy minions must be confronted, making this the first movie about Elvis and JFK to appeal to horror enthusiasts, or, conversely, the first horror movie to appeal to Elvis and JFK enthusiasts. Either way, it's a highly unconventional tale that no adventurous filmgoer should miss. [More]
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Larry Pennell
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Larry Pennell, Bob Ivy, Daniel Roebuck, Reggie Bannister
Director: Don Coscarelli
Director: Don Coscarelli
Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli
Producer: Don Coscarelli
Studio: Vitagraph Films
Reviews for Bubba Ho-Tep
A sharply written, surprisingly moving little film with a terrific performance by Bruce Campbell.
There’s plenty of scatological humour and knockabout fun to get one through the slower passages.
About halfway through this offbeat horror comedy you realise you're watching a cult classic.
The moment the plot takes hold, this most likable film unmercifully dies.
Bubba Ho-Tep sounds more like a hip Saturday Night Live skit. Unfortunately, it also plays like a standard SNL movie, all high concept with little story.
Writer-director Don Coscarelli piles on unpleasant details and cynical asides as if they were the stuff of wisdom, though they seem intended to produce guffaws rather than thoughts
The best comedy ever made about Elvis, JFK, a soul-sucking ancient Egyptian and giant cockroaches ... [but] the film can't sustain the humor.
Coscarelli’s direction is appropriately subtle and poignant for such a knowingly eclectic premise...but somehow there doesn’t seem to be a genuine climax.
Campbell, who narrates the film in a sad, recriminatory mumble, somehow manages to make ol' swivel hips affecting, frayed pompadour and all.
[Director] Don carries this film with a tight blend of comedy and horror.
a smart comedy that dares to take on the sublime and the ridiculous, succeeding on both counts with equal aplomb
the true horror here, far from being some middle-eastern revenant in a cowboy hat, is the indignity of disease, the anonymity of old age, and the inevitability of death
If you can swing with the central idea and accept the production limitations as a kind of offbeat virtue, you'll likely find this smartly silly horror comedy to be, of all things, rewarding.
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