DVDs in Review

Bubba Ho-Tep (Don Coscarelli, 2002) (Blu-ray)

Title: Bubba Ho Tep (Don Coscarelli, 2002)

Release date: July 12 2010

Certificate: 15

Format: Blu-ray

RRP: £19.99

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ finally finds a perfect role for B-movie king Bruce Campbell. After battling the undead and getting bashed over the head with plates and flown across cramped wooden cabins for Sam Raimi’s ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy, Campbell’s career as a leading man (particularly in independent films) should’ve taken off, but it took a few decades for him to find his true calling – as a burned out, decrepid Elvis impersonator battling an evil spirit.

Cooped up in an East Texas retirement home, Elvis thinks he’s the real deal (and was switched with an impersonator as part of a conspiracy). He’s friends with a black, wheelchair bound fellow OAP (Ossie Davis) who thinks he’s JFK (“they dyed me”).

These are our heroes, and Don Coscarelli’s film really makes us believe in them, even when an ancient Egyptian Mummy starts popping off the pensioners in the nursing home and they must do battle.

Campbell and Davis have fantastic chemistry, backed with a biting script filled with punchy one liners and black comedy thanks to Coscarell’s adaptation of Joe R Lansdale’s short story.

Its villain isn’t scary or really that interesting, which takes away a lot of the tension from the film as a whole, which also suffers from a slightly warped story arc but ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ survives due to its characterisation and the fact that everything is played straight.

Which also goes for Bruce Campbell’s audio commentary on the Blu-ray in full character as Elvis. This long awaited high def release should definitely take pride of place for cult cinema buffs, and comes loaded with some solid extra features as well as a crisp print and sound – not perfect, but it should be noted that this film had a (visibly) shoe string budget. That’s part of its overwhelming charm.