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 | (Reviewed by DOMD) - This was one of my most
anticipated films this year, ever since I saw the splendid trailer and
hearing that it will in fact play in Seattle. I live across the water from
Seattle, so I can tell you, it's a journey just getting to the U District
where it was playing. Bubba Ho-Tep, the new horror/comedy film starring
Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell as an aged Elvis impersonator
that may actually be the one true King that resides in an East Texas rest
home where a mummy called Bubba Ho-Tep stalks and steals the souls of the
elderly. According to Elvis, long ago he switched lives with an Elvis
impersonator by the name of Sebastian Half, and the contract of this switch
later burned in a trailer. The way he says it, the Elvis that died was
really Sebastian, and the Sebastian sitting in the rest home is really
Elvis. Trust me, it's even funnier coming from Campbell. The only person who
believes that he is in fact Elvis is an old black man named Jack (played by
Ossie Davies) who claims that he was JFK. When Elvis brings up that Kennedy
was white, Jack exclaims "that's why they're so clever! They Dyed me
this way!" Together, they are the only ones on the tail of this
stalking mummy in cowboy duds.
Before the opening credits even start, I was laughing in my seat. Everyone
in the packed theatre was. Right then, it showed that this was going to be a
smartalecky horror film, and it was doing it's job well. There is so much
dialogue that is absolutely hilarious, but the characters take the dialogue
seriously...which is what makes it even funnier. For example, there is a
scene where Elvis finds Jack lying on his stomach, and Jack claims that this
rest home stalker was trying to suck his soul through his a$$. There is
dialogue from that point through the next morning about the incident that
proves how genius an Actor Campbell is, especially in this role. He keeps
such a disgruntled face most of the time, and even tells the nurse to "fvck
off" in several humorous scenes because he doesn't feel the King
deserves to be treated like a baby.
That's glue that holds the film together, it's dependent on Campbell's
deadpan accuracy of portraying what The King would be like in this
situation. The voice, the lip swaggering, and the flashback scenes of him on
stage, it's Elvis, not Bruce. Ossie Davis is sympathetic and stern as Jack.
He is the one who figures most of Bubba out, starting from grafitti that
Bubba puts on a visitor's bathroom stall. Apparently when Bubba's done
devouring the elderly's soul, he craps out what's left in the toilet, and
occasionally he gets bored and writes stuff in hyrogliphics (however you
spell that) on the stall walls. I won't tell you what he writes, but I can
tell you it laughed me to tears.
Even if the premise about an Egyptian mummy stalking a rest home is far
fetched, the theories Jack presents are delivered in brief sentences, and
done well enough where our imagination is perfectly fine with it. Jack
claims that because Bubba is out of the coffin, the curse is lifted as well.
He doesn't go into details, but says just enough to satisfy our belief
system, which, to me, is great.
This film isn't all just laughs though. There are scenes of authentic
scares. Not "jumpy" scares, but certain shots in the film that
puts chills down spines. All the shots I speak of include Bubba, but it's
still visually creepy. There are scenes like when Elvis first sees Bubba at
the end of the hallway where he somehow has disturbed the lighting. You
don't see him at first, but there are trickles of light that begin to
outline this walking corpse-like figure that walks slowly down the halls.
They light him in keeping him mostly silhoutted, but lighting just enough to
show this isn't an ordinary man. Your imagination fills in the blanks
without you even noticing. Like the way Freddy Kruger was done in the first
Elm Street film. He is shown like this for most of the film. When you see
close shot's of Bubba's face, you can see detail, a lot of detail amongst
the dark shadows. And the best part: no cheap resorting to CGI for the
effects. There are some edits that use it, but Bubba is all latex and
acrylic, baby, and it looks really good.
While Bubba's FX look phenomenal, I personally think the make-up job on
Bruce as Elvis is the shiner of FX for this film. Some people that came with
me had no idea who Bruce Campbell was, and because of that they believed he
was an elderly actor. The wrinkles, the tiny almost unoticable liver spots,
the double chin under Bruce's famous chin. This film should get attention at
the Oscars just for it's make-up alone.
Don Coscarelli, director of Phantasm, wrote and directed this film off of a
Bram Stoker Award nominee short story by Joe R. Lansdale. I never read the
short story, so I don't know how well of an adaptation it really is, but Don
carries this film at such a smooth pace (I didn't check my watch once) with
excellent blend of Comedy and Horror, you really wouldn't care if it follows
the short story or not. This film isn't as imaginative as Don's Phantasm,
but to me, it is better. Mostly because it doesn't overreach it's budget,
which Phantasm did at several times. Remember the fly in Phantasm? We get
some homages to that with the resurrected bugs that were once intombed with
Bubba. They attack Elvis in humorous ways (some even reminding me of when
Campbell fights his hand in Evil Dead 2), but there are scenes where these
bugs are actually creepy. There aren't many scenes with the bugs, but
there's enough to touch both the comedy and horror.
I think this film runs a very close second as of my favorite Bruce Campbell
films (Evil Dead 2 is first) and is easily the best film this year that
touches on the genre of horror. It's fun, and will have you laughing in your
seats, but your laughs stall with tension when Bubba comes to the screen.
Rating: A |
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