History Film / BubbaHoTep

'''''Bubba Ho-Tep''''' is a small-release film, written and directed by Don Coscarelli (based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), starring Creator/BruceCampbell and Ossie Davis. The premise: Three old men far removed from their proper places fight it out for their souls. Did we mention the three are Elvis, an old black man who claims he's UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy, and a {{mummy}} dressed like a cowboy?

In the 1970s, ElvisPresley (Campbell) sought out the world's greatest Elvis impersonator, Sebastian Haff. They secretly switched places, so Elvis could retire in peace. Unfortunately, all the documentation was lost in a trailer explosion, Haff died from a drug overdose, and Elvis fell from the stage while impersonating himself and went into a coma for twenty years. Now alone, assumed crazy, and convalescent in a west Texas retirement home with a mysterious growth on his genitals, he languishes.

* RuleOfFunny
* RuleOfScary

* YourSoulIsMine

* WholePlotReference: This inspired the ''AHDotComTheSeries'' episode ''The Return of the King''.

The mysterious cursed mummy was stolen from a museum by treasure-hunting rednecks, dressed in a cowboy outfit, and lost in a storm in the river by the retirement home. He rises from the depths to consume the souls of the living, feeding at the retirement home to avoid detection, releasing the residual parts of their souls into the men's room, and scratching obscene hieroglyphs on the stall. The defeated and sick elders aren't very nourishing, but no one misses them. No one believes them. No one cares.

* AlternateHistory: Elvis didn't die on the toilet in 1977, he committed a HeroicSacrifice killing a mummy in 2002, a death better suiting a king!

* BleakAbyssNursingHome: the setting of the movie.

* ActingForTwo: Campbell also plays the real Sebastian Haff when Elvis reminisces about the day he finally stepped away from it all.
* ActorAllusion: Ella Joyce played Elvis's nurse in the movie, although she might be more recognized as Eleanor Emerson, a registered nurse married to Baltimore garbageman ''Roc'' in the Fox sitcom of the same name.

* SurprisinglySimilarCharacters: On CBS's 2000 MedicalDrama ''City of Angels'', Ossie Davis played the recurring character of an elderly homeless man who believed himself to be the deposed King of England.

* SurprisinglySimilarCharacters: On CBS's 2000 MedicalDrama ''City of Angels'', Ossie Davis played the recurring character of an elderly homeless man who thought he was the King of England.

'''''Bubba Ho-Tep''''' is a small-release film, written and directed by Don Coscarelli (based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), starring Creator/BruceCampbell and Ossie Davis. The premise: Three old men far removed from their proper places fight it out for their souls. Did we mention the three are Elvis, an old black man who claims he's JohnFKennedy, and a {{mummy}} dressed like a cowboy?

* WhoShotJFK: According to JFK, it was LyndonJohnson and Congress, who proceeded to dye his body black and ship him out when it failed.

** '''[[spoiler: Elvis]]''': "Thank you. Thank you very much..."

* {{Genre Busting}}: It's a hilarious spoof of B-movie monster films, a poignant tale of the decline of Elvis Presley, a parable about how being old does not necessarily make one worthless, a genuinely unnerving horror film and a kickass action movie.

[[caption-width-right:200: Yes, you're reading this right - BruceCampbell as Elvis]]

'''''Bubba Ho-Tep''''' is a small-release film, written and directed by Don Coscarelli (based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), starring BruceCampbell and Ossie Davis. The premise: Three old men far removed from their proper places fight it out for their souls. Did we mention the three are Elvis, an old black man who claims he's JohnFKennedy, and a {{mummy}} dressed like a cowboy?

'''''Bubba Ho-Tep''''' is a small-release film, written and directed by Don Coscarelli (based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), starring BruceCampbell and Ossie Davis. The premise: Three old men far removed from their proper places fight it out for their souls. Did I mention the three are Elvis, an old black man who claims he's JohnFKennedy, and a {{mummy}} dressed like a cowboy?

Small-release film, written and directed by Don Coscarelli (based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), starring BruceCampbell and Ossie Davis. The premise: Three old men far removed from their proper places fight it out for their souls. Did I mention the three are Elvis, an old black man who claims he's JohnFKennedy, and a {{mummy}} dressed like a cowboy?

* CessationOfExistance: What awaits the souls Bubba devours. [[spoiler:Presumably, the ones that fly out of him as he dies hadn't been fully digested yet.]]

In the 1970s, ElvisPresley (Campbell) sought out the world's greatest Elvis impersonator, Sebastian Haff. They secretly switched places, so Elvis could retire in peace. Unfortunately, all the documentation was lost in a trailer explosion, Haff died from a drug overdose, and Elvis fell from the stage while impersonating himself. Now alone, assumed crazy, and convalescent in a west Texas retirement home with a mysterious growth on his genitals, he languishes.

John F. Kennedy (Davis), once president of the United States. His death faked, half his brain removed and replaced with a bag of sand, and his body dyed black by the CIA, Kennedy is also a resident of this same rest home - that's his story, at least. The woman who claims to be his daughter is nice enough, and he fears for his life if he goes public, so he sits, re-creating Dealey Plaza in miniature, trying to figure out just what happened to him. He's the only one who believes his neighbor Elvis really is who he claims to be (though Elvis believes he's nuts).

Small-release film, written and directed by Don Coscarelli (based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale), starring BruceCampbell and Ossie Davis. The premise: Three old men far removed from their proper places fight it out for their souls. Did I mention the three are Elvis, an old black man who claims he's JohnFKennedy, and a mummy dressed like a cowboy?

* InnerMonologue: Elvis spends a fair part of the film reflecting and philosophizing, about what might have been.

* CaptainErsatz / TheJimmyHartVersion: The movie didn't have the budget to license footage from any of Elvis' movies or any recordings of Elvis' actual music. The TV scene showing old Elvis movies is stock footage with actors who vaguely resemble Elvis without showing their face, and the scene with Elvis performing is using vague Elvis-like music.

John F. Kennedy (Davis), once president of the United States. His death faked, half his brain removed and replaced with a bag of sand, and his body dyed black by the CIA, Kennedy is also a resident of this same rest home - that's his story, at least. The woman who claims to be his daughter is nice enough, and he fears for his life if he goes public, so he sits, re-creating Dealey Plaza in miniature, trying to figure out just what happened to him. He's the only one who believes his neighbor Elvis really is who he claims to be.