Rating: 
Summary: Bittersweet rumination on life, aging, and death...
Review: "We couldn't tell them the truth. That Elvis and JFK were chasing an Egyptian mummy that was wearing cowboy duds.... We didn't want them to think we were crazy..."What can you say about a movie that has an aged, impotent Elvis in an east Texas rest home recuperating from a broken hip, a black man who could very well be JFK, and an ancient Egyptian mummy using the home as a feeding ground? How 'bout: It's one of the best movies of the year. With such outrageous elements, (it's based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), this could easily be a grade B forgettable flick. Instead, we have an entertaining, bittersweet meditation on life, on aging, and on death. Director Don Coscarelli, (of Phantasm fame), hits the right blend of horror, drama and comedy. The intentional comedic moments work beautifully; the audience laughs at all the right places. The 'make you jump' moments work without resorting to gore. It elicits sympathy and empathy for the characters, and manages to be thoroughly convincing. No easy feat given the subject matter - it simply *works*. Bruce Campbell, (of Evil Dead fame), shines as Elvis. It seems in the early '70s Elvis grew tired of the fame and fortune and swapped places with an impersonator - then made a modest living impersonating himself. Until he took a tumble from a stage, breaking his pelvis, ending up in the rest home. He's lost all proof of who he really is and most everyone thinks he is a little 'confused'. The only person who believes him is a black man, (Ossie Davis of The Stand), who claims to be JFK. ("They dyed me this color!") Through a believable plot device, a mummy shows up and starts sucking the 'small' souls of the rest home residents. Only the walker assisted Elvis and wheelchair riding JFK figure out what is happening. Their hunt for the mummy acts as the backdrop as we watch the aged Elvis start to live again. He now has a meaning in his life, a mission. A chance to redeem himself. To perhaps actually be the hero he played in all those B movies. To 'take care of business' one more time... Thank you... thank you very much...
Rating: 
Summary: Thank you, thank you very little...
Review: "Bubba Ho-tep" is a unique b-movie that starts with an interesting premise but ultimately falls flat due to it's crippling slow pace and somewhat boring and pointless story line.
The plot revolves around Elvis Presley in a retirement home. No folks, the REAL Elvis is not dead. At the height of his fame he switched lives with impersonator, Sebastian Half, and lived out the rest of his days as a nobody. Now, old and decrepit with a growth on his johnson, he befriends a fellow senior, our 35th president, JFK, trapped in the body of an old black man. The best part here is that you actually believe these two "grumpy old men" and the dialogue between them is rather funny and original. The storyline however is contrived and just plain dumb.
The story: An oversized cockroach scurries through the halls of the retirement home climbing into senior citizen's buttholes to suck out their souls. We find out that this cockroach is actually a mummy in a cowboy outfit. Later, the mummy's motive to haunt the home is revealed, but the reasoning is neither creative nor intriguing nor does it move the plot.
There is no tension in this film and after a half an hour I was wondering when the film was actually going to START. Unfortunately, it never really did. It kept trudging along as slowly as the fogies living in the rest home. The mummy never seemed a threat and most of the time stared down the geezers and staggered off.
I was most moved by Campbell's Elvis when he reflected on the mistakes of his past. I was hoping that the film would delve into that and give our hero an opportunity to do something INTERESTING, perhaps climb into someone's rear end and time travel back to the late 60's to right his wrongs. No luck. Rather, I was forced to sit through a dull and lifeless tale with few laughs, no scares and introductions to characters that were never developed or revisited.
The only thing that kept this movie afloat was the brilliant performances by Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis. Yet, in the end, even their exceptional talent couldn't breath enough life into this dud to make it worth watching.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good ...... but I still watched.
Review: I have a sick and twisted sense of humor, so I found several small bits and pieces funny. The average viewer will look at this film as garbage.
So if you're a big fan of Disney movies, good clean family fun, or anything related to MTV - then skip this one because you have the creative mind equivilent to a peanut and won't understand this one. You'll never appreciate Bruce Campbell's skills, so save yourself the confused feeling in your tiny little brains.
So I'll close with ....... "oh what do I care, I got a growth on my ******"!
Rating: 
Summary: Comes Off A Winner, Couldn't Tell That From Beginning
Review: I'm as huge of a Evil Dead/Bruce Campbell fan as the next horror fan, that's what got me to buy and watch this movie, Bruce Campbell. He's the man. Anyway, I thought by the end of the film, it was very good. Who would have thought that a movie about Elvis fighting a acient mummy in a retirement home would actually be a good film premise? I don't think anyone who watches this movie really thinks so until it's over and you realize "Hey, this wasn't half bad." Leave it to old Bruce to take a dumb idea and make it original and brilliant in an artistic way.
Overall I say the movie is worth seeing, but you will have your fill of the "crank shaft" jokes by the end of the film. Believe me, they go into more detail about the King's stick problems than I want to know.
Ossie Davis actually pulls of a great JFK and actually doesn't look that stupid while he's telling the story of how his skin was dyed and brain removed for national security. It takes a skilled actor to say a line like that and be convincing. And that he was. R.I.P.
The movie, as with any BC movie, has a lot of humor, some of which is hysterical. I love how Bubba kills the people by sucking their souls out of their rear holes. lol.
"I'm not going to wait and let him wrap his lips around my a**hole."
Overall, I'd say that Bubba Ho-Tep was kind of iffy at the beginning but really does come of a winner in the end. Like all independant films, this film has you blushing more than once at what is spoken, but if you can get past the wiener jokes you will find a gold mine movie experience you will never forget. Worth watching, really worth getting if you are a BC/OD fan.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastically weird!
Review: Everyone kept telling me that I *must* see this movie, but no one would really give me a good synopsis. I was able to catch a sparse "it's about Elvis in a rest home with JFK", "it's about zombies", etc, but no synopsis compares to just sitting down and giving this movie a chance.
It's delightfully campy, hysterically funny, and hands-down the weirdest movie I have ever seen. (Maybe I should get out more?)
Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and JFK (Ossie Davis, rest in peace) fight a killer zombie in a rest home in middle-of-nowhere Texas. Sounds lame, eh? It's incredibly funny. Admittedly, I was lost through the first 15 minutes or so of the movie. I had no clue what was going on, but Elvis keeps it interesting with his dialogue alone.
Ossie Davis (bless his heart, I will miss him so) keeps things going with quick dry wit, and I haven't laughed so much in a long time. The two compliment each other perfectly.
I'm so glad I gave this movie a chance. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it so much, because campy horror flicks normally make me roll my eyes. Very well done!
Rating:
Summary: Better than some other films that won 19 Academy Awards...
Review: Here are ten (Count `em) TEN observations about "Bruce Campbell vs. Bubba Ho Tep"...
1. This is a low, low, low budget film. As the basis of a full-length feature film, the short story that "Bubba Ho-Tep" was based on would have made a good ten minute short, but instead was expanded to a very long hour and a half.
2. The story in two sentences: Two residents of a nursing home discover that a displaced Egyptian mummy is sucking the souls of the other residents. The two decide to take action, and they burn the mummy. The End.
3. Oh yeah. The two are played by Bruce Campbell, who claims to be Elvis and Ossie Davis, who claims to be JFK. This juxtaposition is the running joke of "Bubba Ho-Tep". Real funny... Right?
4. Would I watch "Bubba Ho-Tep" more than once? Probably not. Even though Bruce Campbell does a pretty good impression of Elvis, It's not something I would want to see again and again. "Bubba Ho-Tep" makes "Army of Darkness" look like a sophisticated screen epic.
5. Visually, the cinematography was less than stunning. What I remember most about "Bubba Ho-Tep" is the Bruce Campbell character bitching about one thing after another from his bed. This seems to go on for about 25% of the running time. The story needed some action, some romance, or if nothing else, a little cleavage, which, in a film like this, can go along way. After all, cleavage probably helped to save "Showgirls", another film with a crummy screenplay.
6. I really wanted to like "Bubba Ho-Tep". I watched it from beginning to end, but it was about as entertaining as a promotional video about small kitchen appliances. Not coincidentally, after I finished watching "Bubba Ho Tep", I then proceeded to watch "Home Shopping Network" for about two hours.
7. There wasn't much in the way of special effects in "Bubba Ho Tep", either. The mummy's total time in the film might add up to about two minutes. It's too bad, because the hapless mummy was actually one of the funnier aspects of "Bubba Ho-Tep".
8. "Bubba Ho-Tep" will appeal mainly to hardcore diehard Bruce Campbell fans. No, I take that back. Hardcore Bruce Campbell fans will probably be pissed off, like I am. Maybe if I didn't know that Campbell is a great comic actor, I might have liked "Bubba Ho-Tep".
9. The humor in this film will be foreign to most people above the age of 14.
10. Would I recommend "Bubba Ho-Tep" to my friends? Sure.. Anything's better than having to sit through "The English Patient"!
Thank You
Rating:
Summary: "Thank you very much"
Review: A truly strange movie. It has moments of hilarity, pathos, and unadulterated surrealism. Sometimes you scratched your head and said "What?" But that was part of the strange charm of the movie.
Campbell's portrayal of Elvis was great, his narrative of his abandonment of stardom beliveable in a twisted way, and the one-liners he used were memorable: e.g. "Its been two presidential elections since I had a boner like that". And Ossie Davis simply cannot put in a bad performance. Here, he's an old black man who belives he's JFK. His character is both sad, and at the same time inspiring.
This movie is not for everyone. Its charm apeals to a specific mindset. You'll either love it or hate it. There will be no middle ground.
Rating:
Summary: Hail To The King, Baby!!!
Review: Just reading the plot of this movie, you might skip over it. But you would be making a big mistake. It's actually an Elvis redemption story that talks about the human condition. It's about two elderly gentlemen, "Elvis" and a black "John F. Kenney" who are left to die in a nursing home, losing meaning in their lives. A war hero dies next to "Elvis" by a few coughs. It's a place of no hope because its inhabitants are just waiting for their final journey. The outside world has shunned these "elderly." They are just "OLD" and really serve no purpose. They serve no purpose because they are given no purpose. An evil mummy quickens their journey to the "final adventure." And the only two residents who will not just "die" are "Elvis" and "JFK". They have found their meaning, even in old age.
Really, folks. This movie is funny, with some awesome understated overtones. And this is one of the last films that the great and wonderful Ossie Davis can be seen in. God bless his soul. Bruce Campbell does an amazing job, portraying Elvis. I can't wait for a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: bubba ho-tep
Review: wow i dont know what to say, not about the movie that is, most of what i think about the movie can be confined to a space approximately 1 foot to the right and 2 feet down from the average location of the handle on any given toilet. i love bruce, and ossie davis is awesome, but not in this movie, i failed to laugh once during the whole thing and in most cases i was just plain disgusted. the main theme of the movie of which it felt like there were many, appeared to be saving fellow retirement home residents, of which you never got to see, and how much old people dont like having std's, the latter of which it describes so sickeningly you might think of it as an attempt at a psa for safe sex. i was very dissappointed in this, the story line was awesome, i loved the idea, elvis and jfk fighting evil in a retirement home, what a great idea, really, but this was poorly written. i would love to see this story redone by someone who knows what they are doing. with the same cast mind you. i hold no agner, dissapointment,or whatever for the actors. end result this is the kind of movie that your hear people,that were given the power of communication unjustly, go on and on about how awesome it was for reasons that would take a long time to explain and cost more than bill gates has for a therapist to cure. in all honestly there are people that would like this movie, those that watched blair witch and thought it was awesome, and those that would not like it would be those that had watched blair witch and realized that they had an hour and some odd minutes of their lives taken away. and of those that should not think for a second about buying this or indeed even watching it would be those that could tell you down to the second how much of their lives had been stolen, which by the way was 83 minutes and 22 seconds.
Rating:
Summary: Ask not what your rest home can do for you...
Review: Bruce Campbell is back to save a world where Elvis is alive, JFK was dyed black, and theres a soul sucking mummy who writes bathroom graffiti.
Being an Army of Darkness fan, when I heard this little flick was out, I knew I had to watch it. I expected it to be fun- in that B-movie way of not being all that good, but still entertaining and quotable. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this piece by Don Coscarelli (of BeastMaster fame). The film had a quiet dignity I wasn't prepared for. There were moments of honesty in the sad life of the infirm, as well as laughter at their awkward state of affairs, and just enough spook factor to remind yourself there was a scary mummy afoot- thus pushing the plot forward. Mild FX tricks kept a cheap set from looking too cardboard, and the mummy was done well - very Army of Darkness although, he was a bit too Freddy Krueger for my taste. Many scenes in the movie mirrored other films- from the oft repeated Reservoir Dogs walk up, to The Shining's hallways, and even a bit of magic in the stars reminiscent of The Lion King. The morgue employees were right out of Shakespear's Hamlet. They never quite fit in with the piece as a whole and weren't funny enough to justify their inclusion. The story was bland and unoriginal, things didn't quite fit- like the rest home being a small house, then a huge compound... but you know, this is a cult movie, and if you like that kind of thing, you'll like Bubba Ho-Tep. I enjoyed watching it.
This disc has great special features including Making Of featurettes, lots of commentary, some deleted scenes, and even a music video (the soundtrack was nice). If you're going to buy this, I would pick up the Limited Collector's Edition which has LOTS more goodies.
"Ask not what your rest home can do for you, but rather what you can do for your rest home."
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