The Daily Stream becomes the Daily Scream for spooky season!
Elvis! He’s dying a lingering, miserable death in the most depressing nursing home you’ve ever seen, in rural Texas. (He traded places with an Elvis impersonator in the 1970s, and it’s that poor sap who died so publicly.) His fellow inmate in decrepit coothood is former president Jack Kennedy; after the assassination attempt in 1963, he was dyed black and had his brain replaced with a sack of sand. Now, Elvis (Bruce Campbell) and JFK (Ossie Davis) are battling an ancient Egyptian mummy, who finds easy prey at the home. Is 2003’s Bubba Ho-Tep weird? You bet. And not in that comforting weird way, where you go in expecting Bruce Campbell with a chainsaw and a smart mouth. This low-budget battle of Bubba is a metaphor for all that’s missing from the lives of the warehoused elderly: a sense of dignity, of purpose. Campbell always makes me laugh; I never thought he’d make me cry. Geek comfort food this ain’t, and that’s just groovy. (Read my 2003 review.)
US: stream on Prime; rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: not streaming anywhere, alas, but available on DVD/blu-ray
See Bubba Ho-Tep at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
