Bubba Hotep

[poliphilo]

So Elvis and JFK are holed up in this rest home in Texas and there's an undead Egyptian mummy on the loose and it's sucking people's souls.

Actually, it's a serious movie. It's about growing old and how you don't have to die before you die- if you get my drift.

I've got a couple of reservations; there's a miasma of Cuckoo's Nesty misogyny hanging about the rest home corridors; and it's all kinda slow. But maybe the last is a virtue in this age of low-attention-span actioners.

Otherwise it's funny and smart and scary. What more do you want? It's like Buffy with a couple of old codgers in place of the Scoobies.

Bruce Campbell (unrecognisable in sideburns and prosthetic chin) is great as grouchy Elvis and Ossie Davis is a charmer. What timing he has ! I guess it must have been one of his very last roles (if not the last.) RIP Ossie!

They miss one trick. They don't get Campbell to sing.

Comments

[saskia139.livejournal.com]

Thanks for recognizing the theme of this movie! I saw it on the recommendation of a lot of twentysomethings, and I loved it, but wondered how they missed the fact that it was not merely a thigh-slapping gutbuster comedy, haw haw haw, but a serious movie about old age and how society doesn't take its elders seriously. I concluded that they were simply Too Young to Get It. *g*

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I kinda envy their inability to get it. How nice to be young and know that you're going to live (in perfect health) for ever!

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Interesting--I'll check it out on Netflix.

Have you seen Shawn of the Dead yet? I wonder if it's out...

It's dark and funny.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I saw Shaun on DVD. I guess if it's out over here, it's likely to be out over there as well.

Yes, I enjoyed it. I have a thing for comedy horror movies.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

Bubba Hotep! I like bubba hotep quite a bit.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It proves that a film doesn't have to be
(a) very expensive,
(b) weighed down with stars,
(c) stupid
to enjoy popular success

Fun movie...

[musewithamagnum.livejournal.com]

As a former Memphian, raised in Presleyterianism (http://www.pifmagazine.com/SID/582/) though not much of a believer myself, I appreciated the slow, momentous pace...reminds one of the Vigil. Only with soul sucking mummies. Which we probably have running around Memphis as well.

Re: Fun movie...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I never cared that much for Elvis as an entertainer- but I enjoy his mythic dimension.

Re: Fun movie...

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I never cared that much for Elvis as an entertainer- but I enjoy his mythic dimension.

The young Elvis - and the Elvis that appeared in the 'Singer Special" (originally sponsored by Singer sewing machines) in the leather suit...that was a very sexy man.

But as he got older, he became more and more a parody of himself.

I love what you said here. I too enjoy his mythic proportion.

Re: Fun movie...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Those early recordings- Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes etc- are pretty amazing, but he soon declined into crowd-pleasing schmaltz.