History Film / BubbaHoTep

* HesJustHiding: The follow up concept was going to be an ImmediateSequel where the nurse comes out to perform CPRCleanPrettyReliable on Elvis.

* CaptainErsatz: The movie didn't have the budget to license footage from any of Elvis' movies or any recordings of Elvis' actual music, so 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.

* TheLoinsSleepTonight: Elvis has suffered erectile dysfunction for decades. His roommate's twentysomething daughter bending over in front of him only causes "[his] dick to flutter for a second, like a pigeon having a heart attack," though he also admits that at this stage of the game, even the flutter is reassuring.

* CryForTheDevil: When Elvis meets The Mummy named Bubba Ho-Tep for the first time, He sees how The Mummy died and what happened before he came to terrorize the rest home. Before he died he was a Pharaoh who was assassinated by his royal priests. We dont know why they killed him, but we see him being seduced by two women and then later a priest jams a hook thru his nose while he's alive and awake and removes his brain. The mummy is an evil soul sucking fiend, but you still feel bad about the way he died.

* CryForTheDevil: When Elvis meets The Mummy named Bubba Ho-Tep for the first time, He sees how The Mummy died and what happened before he came to terrorize the rest home. Before he died he was a Pharaoh who was assassinated by his royal priests. We dont know why they killed him, but we see him being seduced by two women and then later a priest jams a hook thru his nose while he's alive and awake and removes his brain. The mummy id an evil soul sucking fiend, but you still feel bad about the way he died.

* ElvisLives: Combined with AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, the real Elvis didn't die of a drug overdose, but had retired in secret while an Elvis impersonater took his place.

''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?

* AdultFear: Growing old and weak and finding yourself left to die in a care home, with your children "too busy" to come and see you. (Elvis sees his room-mate's daughter twice in three years - once when she booked him in, and once after he dies. She throws his belongings and mementos in the bin).
* AlternateHistory: Elvis didn't die on the toilet in 1977, he [[spoiler: committed a HeroicSacrifice killing a mummy in 2002, a death better suiting a king!]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: "How did I end up here? What ''happened'' to me? What time's lunch, and considering what they serve, why do I care?"

* BadassGrandpa: A double shot. Elvis and JFK are old, tired, used up, and waiting to die in a nursing home. However, when it comes to manning up and going out to battle an ancient Egyptian mummy, they kick ass, take names, and get the job done.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The last shot of the movie is Elvis breathing his last as he looks up at the stars. On the plus side, the mummy has been destroyed and the residents of the nursing home are now safe.]].
* BleakAbyssRetirementHome: the setting of the movie.
* BMovie
* CaptainErsatz / SuspiciouslySimilarSong: 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.
* CastingGag: 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.

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

* DyingAsYourself: Because soul-suckin' sumbitch mummies do not a friendly bedmate make.
* ElvisLives: Combined with AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, the real Elvis didn't die of a drug overdose, but had retired in secret.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Bubba Ho Tep consumes and digests the souls of his victims, preventing them from any afterlife. A rather neat way to illustrate why he's such a problem when they'll all be dying soon anyway.
* {{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.
** "Kemosabe was dead of a ruptured heart valve before he hit the floor. He went out with guns blazing. Soul intact."
** [[spoiler: Elvis himself. "Thank you. Thank you very much..."]]
* HeroicSacrifice: Three: [[spoiler: Elvis decides it's better to die killing the mummy than wait and languish to die from the cancer on his penis. JFK goes out in a blaze by ramming the creature with his electric wheelchair. And Kemosabe, who dies earlier in the film facing down the mummy with a pair of cap pistols, dies soul-intact.]]
* HypocriticalHumor: Elvis is very annoyed that people think him to be some crazy old man instead of the genuine article. The only one to believe him is JFK, who Elvis initially thinks is a crazy old man instead of the genuine article.[[note]]Then again, JFK's story about being dyed black and having half his brain replaced with a bag of sand before being dumped in a nursing home by his vice-president for...reasons is considerably more fantastic (to put it kindly) than the idea Elvis swapped places with someone, lost the proof of it, and then suffered an injury that laid him up for years, only recovering somewhat when he was now elderly. Then AGAIN, if Elvis is who he says he is, and after encountering Ho-tep, he should be far more open to the idea that life is just plain crazy.[[/note]]

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: "Don't make me use my stuff on ya, baby!"
* PreMortemOneLiner: "Never...but NEVER, fuck with The King!!!"
%%* RuleOfFunny
%%* RuleOfScary

* ShoutOut: Among the others, the Lone Ranger appears to have ended up in the nursing home as well.

* StealthPun: Near the end, the mummy speaks in hieroglyphics... obscene (and fake) hieroglyphics, at that. [[spoiler:It's the mummy's curse.]]

** It goes away when he realizes that fighting the mummy has given him purpose again.

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

%%* ArtisticLicenseHistory: There were no Elvis impersonators when he was alive; they didn't show up until ''decades'' after his death. This provides some weight to the possibility that Elvis/Haff is just senile. %%The Other Wiki says that Elvis impersonators existed from almost the very beginning of the King's career, like many cover bands and tribute performers, but gained a kind of cult status following Presley's death: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_impersonator#Origins

* GoOutWithASmile: Twice.

* SlowMovingMenace: The mummy is as slow as molasses in January, but its' victims are all elderly people who can't evade it because they are bedridden, or need walkers and wheelchairs to get around. This makes the mummy a much more effective and nightmarish menace, as it deliberately chooses helpless targets instead of teens or young adults who could easily run rings it.

* CreditsGag: The copyright violation warning threatens violators with "the wrath of Bubba Ho Tep". Also, it is stated that Elvis will return in "Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires".

* DyingAYourself: Because soul-suckin' sumbitch mummies do not a friendly bedmate make.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: There were no Elvis impersonators when he was alive; they didn't show up until ''decades'' after his death. This provides some weight to the possibility that Elvis/Haff is just senile.

* {{Dying As Yourself}}: Because soul-suckin' sumbitch mummies do not a friendly bedmate make.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: There were no Elvis impersonators when he was alive; they didn't show up until ''decades'' after his death. This provides some weight to the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation on Elvis/Haff.

* BigBad: King Amen Ho-Tep, the {{Mummy}} killing everybody.

* HypocriticalHumor: Elvis is very annoyed that people think him to be some crazy old man instead of the genuine article. The only one to believe him is JFK, who Elvis initially thinks is a crazy old man instead of the genuine article.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: There were no Elvis impersonators when he was alive; they didn't show up until ''decades'' after his death.

* BigBad: King Amen Ho-Teo, the {{Mummy}} killing everybody.

* JustForFun/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.

* AdultFear: growing old and weak and finding yourself left to die in a care home, with your children "too busy" to come and see you. (Elvis sees his room-mate's daughter twice in three years - once when she booked him in, and once after he dies. She throws his belongings and mementos in the bin).

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The last shot of the movie is Elvis breathing his last as he looks up at the stars]].

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

* BitterSweetEnding: [[spoiler: The last shot of the movie is Elvis breathing his last as he looks up at the stars]].

* ElvisHasLeftThePlanet: Combined with AlternativeCharacterInterpretation, the real Elvis didn't die of a drug overdose, but had retired in secret.