Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
It’s playing in some places now, and it’s still being screened like mad. It’s BUBBA HO-TEP, and you can thank Vitagraph Films if you get a chance to take a peek. Here’s much love for a deserving film:
HAIL TO THE KING, BABY.
Wow. That's what my six friends and I said exiting this film, after sitting through the credits of course. None of us could agree what the best line in the film was, seeing how there was a billion great lines. None of us could agree if Bruce was really just an Elvis impersonator or Elvis himself. WE even got to the both of who actually killed JFK. None of us agreed, I still think JFK killed himself ala RED DWARF. We did agree on something, this is a classic...a fucking classic.
The film starts with some great music and an adrenaline pumped slide in of the title. The audience clapped, I love it when the audience claps. We also got some great definitions of BUBBA and HO-TEP. I would tell you, but it would ruin the hilarity factor. We open with Bruce Campbell talking about a growth on his...well his....his little Elvis, if you get my meaning. There is an old guy next to him in a bed coughing up his lungs and gargling. That's where I want to stop describing the movie to you because, its so great to see for yourself. If you haven't seen it skip this.
The dude in the bed next to him dies. We get some comedy relief from the two morticians, then we get to Bubba himself. Another old lady from the home is out walking about, she steals some ladies glasses, mumbles to herself, steals chocolates. Normal senile stuff. Then she's attacked by a scarab, by far one of the funniest things in the movie. She reaches to grab it and it bights her hand, she falls out of the bed and beat the living hell out of the ancient bug. Then we get the silhouette of the pimp hat wearing mummy himself. She screams, she's done for.
We are shown Elvis again. He is lying in bed still. The man who used to lie next to him has a daughter who is now throwing away his stuff, including a purple heart. The king won't let that be. He tells her to retrieve it from the trash, she does and we get some ass shot. But poor Elvis can't get little Elvis to rocking roll. No viva Las Vegas for him. He's all alone in the heartbreak hotel. Okay sorry. Elvis explains his story, which is very believable.
Elvis is shown with Ossie Davis in the next scene talking about how Ossie is JFK and Bruce is Elvis. I believe them both. Ossie Davis was bar far my part of this movie, and I was seeing it because of Bruce. Ossie has, in my opinion some great lines. Talking about an ass sucking, graffiti artist mummy. Amazing he has all the books that helps him figure this stuff out. What is even better is his room looks like the oval office and is decorated with pictures of the gunmen and even a set up of the street corner where he was shot? Brilliant.
Elvis and JFK decide to take out Bubba, because A) he sucks souls from your ass, and B) who else is gonna stop him? There are 2 great Evil dead and Army of Darkness tribute lines which are hard to notice, but they are there.
Elvis doing kung foo, and JFK looking out for a Zombie assianation attempt from an undead Lyndon B. Johnson. Over all this movie was about looking deep inside of yourself and no being afraid to be you that and "Watch your asshole." A necessary piece of American cinema? Yes, They one thing this film left me wanting is Elvis and the Nosferatu: Curse of the She Vampires.
Crazy, Crazy as a Mink!
NAIRB
This one’s nice, and mentions THE WOODS again. This is the Lucky McKee film, keep in mind, and not the M. Night Shyamalan picture which has actually been retitled THE VILLAGE, since no one has ever seen an episode of THE PRISONER. Ahem. Lucky’s film is about a boarding school for very gifted girls, and I’ve only read the first half of the script. Reminds me of SUSPIRIA, but not in a rip-offy kind of way. It’s just got the same vibe as that or PHENOMENA... the whole creepy girls’ school thing. Bruce’s role is very small in the film’s first half, but maybe he reappears in it later. Hope so. Anyway...
Hey, man. I don’t know if there’s anything in here that might be useful and/or edifying to you, but here you go...
I just got back from BUBBA HO-TEP and a very short Q & A with Bruce Campbell at the Angelika in Manhattan.
Campbell didn’t speak for very long (they had to squeeze him in between showings of BUBBA) but he did confirm/deny some rumors that have been going around lately…. Most of the stuff he said I’ve read about already, but it was just cool hearing it from the man himself… He said that he had, indeed, been cast as the main “scream queen’s” father in Lucky McKee’s THE WOODS, but wouldn’t say anything about the movie besides the fact that it is definitely being called The Woods, that it takes place during the 1960’s, and that his hair style in the movie makes him look like John Kennedy.
He said that the rumors about Freddy VS. Ash were completely bullshit, and that any battle between the franchises would take place only if Ash was allowed to kick Freddy and/or Jason’s ass.
(SLIGHT SPOILER) He also talked about a possible BUBBA sequel, saying that if the movie made money they might explore what Elvis did between movies (which he and Don Coscarelli believe was fight vampires. Which would make sense considering the phony advertisement for a movie called “BUBBA NOSFERATU: Elivs fights the She-Devils!” that ends the closing credit sequence.)
He also confirmed that he will be doing a cameo (only a cameo) as “the snotty usher” in the new Spiderman, that his new book will be coming out within a year, and that (big surprise, now) there are no plans for an Evil Dead 4.
SPOILERS COMING: (DON’T READ if you haven’t seen it, please!)
So there ya go…. As for the movie itself, BUBBA HO-TEP rules. It just flat out rules. It’s hilarious and features INCREDIBLE performances from Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, and Ella Joyce (who plays Campbell’s nurse- I’ve never seen her in anything before but she’s funny as hell)… The movie (as I’m sure everyone knows by now) centers on Campbell, who plays this guy who believes himself to be Elvis Presley (just a little sidenote- there’s actually not a single Elvis song in the movie- I’m sure the budget didn’t allow for it). The nursing home he lives in is being haunted by a resurrected Egyptian pharaoh (Ho-Tep), who, in order to stay “alive” needs to digest the souls of the living by sucking them out of the victims’ mouth and/or ass (I kid you not.) There’s even a main plot point that involves around etchings created by the ho-tep while he was shitting out the unnecessary parts of someone’s soul (which leads to a classic Campbell line reading wherein he says that he won’t be swallowed up by this “bastard, only to be crapped out in the visitors’ toilet!”)
Coscarelli’s screenplay truly is hysterical… he sort of captured just the right mix of sci-fi, camp, and just, like, straight-up character driven drama… I definitely found myself strangely moved by the end of the movie- which is pretty impressive considering the type of movie it is…. It’s also a credit to the performances, especially Campbell and Ossie Davis who do some really great work here- definitely two of the best performances I’ve seen this year. The only thing is, the movie is NOT, in any way, a horror movie. I know a lot of people seem to be under the impression that it is, (the trailer/poster kind make it seem that way). I mean, there’s a Little bit of splatter, but it’s very much a dark comedy/character piece with, like, a science fiction flavor. There were a couple parts where they tried to throw in some “scares” (characters popping out, of nowhere accompanied by a loud music cue..) and they really weren’t scary at all… but really, the movie is awesome. The look of it is great (it’s the nastiest, most evil looking nursing home I’ve ever seen) and there are some very cool shots of Campbell in his Elvis suit and Davis wheeling himself down the hallway in slow motion that the audience went fucking nuts for... But yeah. Don Coscarelli is the man. Great movie- go see it.
Thanks for reading.
Rupert Pupkin
This next guy was also at the Anjelika, but notice how some of what he reports is different. It’s these types of RASHOMON style perception differences that make it so difficult to run a rumor site. In particular, check out the FREDDY VS JASON VS ASH rumor above, then the one below:
Harry,
Let me start by congratulating you for the website, is a lot of fun. Tonight I went to the 915 screening of Bubba Ho Tep in the Angelika Center in New York City. Bruce Campbell was there and he took a couple of questions from the audience. I have been really a fan of the guy for only a year, after I read a couple of the articles he has written for his website and thought he had a lot of common sense (sadly the least "common" of the senses nowadays) and interesting opinions on the industry and life in general. However, after tonight I can see why so many people love the guy. He was very nice, funny and charismatic. In any case, here is a brief summary of his answers as I remember them:
1. Ash v. Jason v. Freddy: studios involved are working on the details. He mentioned the problem was that each franchise wanted to come out a winner in the fight. He stressed the fact that "Ash should kick those guys assess and he was gonna make goddam sure that a contractual obligation was written on that issue". People cheer a lot after he said that.
2. The Woods: he was currently working in the movie. He liked working with the director (the guy that made May).
3. Evil Dead 4: He didn't deny the possibility, simply question whether people would really want to see him made another one of those, it will depend on that.
4. Evil Dead new video game: He acknowledge the fact that the 2 games made so far have not been so good but he mentioned that he was making a new one right now that was gonna blow everybody away. He told a funny story about Mathew Perry telling him on the set of Serving Sara that the first Evil Dead game sucked, to which Bruce replied "does the game suck or do you suck?" Regarding the movie Serving Sara he said "the only thing I know is that the check cleared", which was greeted with a lot of laughs.
Finally and regarding the movie Bubba Ho Tep, I loved it. Bruce carries the movie and his talent as an actor is undeniable. Hopefully his performance will be noticed and he would finally get that role that brings him the respect he deserves. If you are gonna use any of this for your website you can call me "Flavio" (my real name). Keep up the good work!
Rgds,
Flavio
And... yes... another... and a very well-written one, at that...
Dear Harry,
Several months ago I reported to you about some Spider-Man 2 shooting being done at Columbia IUniversity as well as Dylan Baker's appearnace on the set. Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for posting about Bruce showing up live at the Angelika Film Center in NYC. It was an incredible night for the hundreds of Campbell worshippers who showed up for the 7, 7:50 and 9:15 shows. I went to the 7:50 screening and so begins my tale...
The EVENT:
After what seemed like a long time (years since having heard of the Bubba Hotep project) one of the theater employees came out and introduced the star of the film Mr. Bruce Campbell who appeared to thunderous applause and chants of "Bruuuuuuuce." Campbell has carved a nice niche for himself as a genre actor beloved by his fans and its easy to see why. He has loads of charisma and has a great sense of humor about himself as well as his fans. Here to the best of my recollection are some of the most memorable bits of the Q&A. You could just scroll down to the review if you like but Bruce's interaction with his fans are HYSTERICAL!
Bruce began "Before we start this here picture, are there any questions about Bubba-Hotep? (At which point Bruce thanked everyone for coming out and supporting the film since it was a hard sell and that had very limited distribution) Oh wait before we get to that I'd like you to know we have a very special guest with us tonight, the man responsible for writing the story behind this picture, Mr. Joe R. Lansdale. Ha! Thought you could hide from 'em eh Joe? So if you folks think the movie sucks you can beat the shit out of that guy back there." At which point Mr. Lansdale began to slump in his seat which cause much laughing and cheering.
Of course many hands shot up asking the usual Campbell questions. "Yes I'd like to learn how to make love the Bruce Campbell way and I was wondering if you could help me out?" was the first question. Without missing a beat Bruce replies with "That's the worst segue I ever heard! Who'd ever want to do that? For those of you who don't know he's talking about the next stupid book I'm writing. Should be due out some time next year" Much applause. Next question came from the back "Are you planning on making any more movies like Army of Darkness, you know set in Medieval Times?" I assume they guy meant if there was going to be an Evil Dead 4. Bruce however said something along the lines of one medieval times movie is enough. "How did you like working on McHale's Navy?" was followed by Bruce making a face that ...well it needed to be seen to be believed. The audience was dying with laughter. "Jeez. How did you think I liked working on it? You obviously went and saw it so what do you think?"
Then the usual questions about Spider-Man 2, Bruce: "I don't know how you can top being the guy who gives Spider-Man his name for God sakes. But no, I've got an important little bit in this movie and that's all Sam's gonna let me say" Much excited applause. What's his next project: "The Woods, which is being written and directed by a guy named Lucky McKee. Did a movie last year called..." "May!" I shouted out, "Yeah that's right, May" (At this point he looked right at me and nodded, soooooooooo cool) "It was a horror mo-, kind of a horror movie. Very good stuff. Anyway we're shooting in Montreal right now and since it's so close to New York I figured I'd drop in." More howls of glee.Next question: How does it feel to be playing the other "king" in this movie? Bruce: "What other king? I've only played this one king" to which most of the audience started shouting "Hail to the king baby!", to wit Bruce responded "If you think you can compare that asshole Ash.." interrupted by huge laughs and cheers "... to Elvis Presley the KING of rock and roll you are out of your mind." There was more but the capper for the first half of the questions was "Does it piss you off that studios hire guys like Brendan Fraser to basically rip off the kind of characters you do for movies like the Mummy when you could just as easily do them yourself?" Bruce: "First of all let me say you're a very smart young man. Well I can't control what studios do. I mean look at this picture. You've got Elvis whose lathering up his cancerous dick and JFK fighting a mummy in a rest home. A studio wants to market something that you can put Mel Gibson's picture on the poster holding a gun. Whereas this film has a lot more wild stuff and pathos and deep drama than most "real dramas" have. You know the one's with scores instead of soundtracks." And with that the first half of the Q&A ended as Bruce hoped that we'd enjoy the movie.
The REVIEW:
Bubba-Hotep is what movies are all about; original stories that serve to entertain, enthrall an audience and in turn make it think. One of the things that will surprise most people who go in to see this movie is that there is some heavy duty pathos mixed in with the cult goodness. There are issues raised here about the treatment of the elderly, coming to terms with oneself, acceptance, creating an identity and a look at how we create our own truths. This is a result of both the marvelous (and not to worry extremely quotable) script by Joe Lansdale and the marvelous performances of Bruce and Ossie Davis. The ads and reviews which state this is Campbell's finest acting hour are not lying. This is a genuine PERFORMANCE given by a talented and gifted actor. Oh rest assured there are some moments when its Bruce Campbell on the screen (particularly as Sebastian Haff, the Elvis impersonator the Real King switched places with lo these many years ago), but these moments are few and far between. For the bulk of the running time you are looking at THE ELVIS PRESLEY. With the help of the makeup artists at KNB, Campbell has been completely transformed into a very old version of the King and most every movement and gesture serves to drive home the point that this is an old man whose wild days are long past. Yet the presence of a mummy in the rest home, "Some kind of Bubba-Hotep", brings new life to him. He is invigorated by the task of discovering the nature of the thing that has been killing his fellow rest home residents. Ossie Davis is equally vibrant as the man who believes himself to be JFK with a bag of sand where part of his brain might be and a black skin dye job. The pair of actors have outstanding chemistry and by the movies end you WILL believe that these two are indeed what they claim to be, what else could they be? Don Corascelli's direction is also outstanding. The movie is leisurely and intimate when it needs to be but jerks both characters and audience out of there state of calm when horror and humor are needed. I'll admit I was a bit disappointed by Cabin Fever (I can blame some of this on the ridiculous amounts of hype, but it worked more as a bizarre comedy than an Evil Dead-esque comedy/horror/Hills Have Eyes type movie. I guess I just wasn't feeling the whole teen sex comedy characters within a horror movie vibe, sorry Harry, I tried.) but Hotep has everything that those who were disappointed by "Fever" will want. The perfect confection of laughs, thrills and tears. There are appropriate jump cuts and bits where the frame rate seems to speed up which serve to underline the characters haze in their memory and makes you question whether what is being seen is fantasy or reality. Also better to create an atmosphere that when the terror comes it is well appreciated. I really don't want to give away anything you haven't already seen in trailers or TV ads (have there been TV ads?) but this movie is everything a movie about Elvis and JFK fighting a cowboy mummy in a rest home in Texas could possibly be and more! And it never lets you forget it! There is amazing stuff in here and I wouldn't dream of spoiling the best bits for anyone (there are lots of GREAT scenes and lines that will stay with you for a long time after the movie is done). In a word an unforgettable experience. If there is any justice in the world collective film memory will have a new image to place along side the baby carriage rolling down the Odessa steps, Keaton aboard the Annabelle Lee, Gene Kelly swinging on his lamp post, Harrison Ford running from the boulder, the door closing on a grim faced Al Pacino, and now... Bruce Campbell's Elvis with walker and Ossie Davis' JFK in his wheelchair headed down the rest home hallway on a date with destiny! If this film is playing near you please go and see it, if not, you MUST get the DVD. It is something every genre fan, nay, every film fan should experience.
The EVENT part 2 (abbreviated cause its really late): The movie ended to rapturous applause and Bruce came out again half way through the credits. Just a few things worth mentioning here cause basically most everything else he talked about has been mentioned previously on this site in Bruce's most recent interview with... I believe it was Quint or Mr. Beaks, I'm not sure.
Every time someone had a story question (for example, why was Bubba-Hotep dressed like a cowboy) Bruce would lower his head as if exhausted and slowly trudge the mike up to the middle of the theater where Mr. Lansdale was sitting and have him answer. Also there were numerous problems with the microphone and Bruce made several hilarious attempts to get the thing working again until finally one of the ushers came out, took the mike from him and with a quick fluid gesture flipped the switch and turned it on, which was followed by, you guessed it, more laughs and applause. Also at one point someone up in the projection both accidentally turned on the music to some pop song (I believe it was the one by Beyoncee Knowels they play all the time now) and without missing a beat Bruce began to bust a move. OH MY GOD! Bruce Campbell getting down to Beyoncee is something i will keep with me until the day I day. I could barely breath I was luaghing so hard. Total geek moment.
(SPOILER WARNING)
At the end of the credits there is, as if you haven't heard, a notice that reads something along the lines of, "The King will return in Bubba-Nosferattu: Elvis vs. the She-Vampires" When the audience saw this it went nuts! Bruce turned around as though in shock and exclaimed: "OH MY GOD! WOW!" with a great deal of faux surprise. When asked about this Bruce said that he'd love to work with Don on this prequel but this movie was going to have to make a lot more money first.
(END SPOILER WARNING)
A female NYU student talked about how she had done a project on the Evil Dead movies and how she had done really well on it and wanted to thank Bruce. Bruce was completely incredulous that the Evil Dead could get anyone a good grade.. Then she said "I have a dorky Xena question for you also" to which Bruce replied "A dorky Xena question? Yeah sure why not" "Is Atillacus the King of thieves the father of Odysseus on the show, because he is in actual Greek mythology?"
Bruce: "Atillacus? First of all I believ you mean...ATOLYCUS the king of thieves! Get it right!" (At this point the auidence COMPLETELY lost it) Bruce continued, "Well I think we all know how historically accurate Xena is. You know Hercules and Xena take place at pretty much the same time in ancinet Greece and yet Xena met Caesar so..." If the audience had been laughing hard before it was nothing compared to the reaction to this question.
Someone asked if the Elvis people had contacted him or were upset about the movie. I must admitt this was probably the best, most legit and original question of the night. Bruce: "Huh, you know, they haven't. I mean the guy is dead. There's not much he can do. It's not like we're making fun of anyone that's alive and it's not like he [his character Elvis] ever says "Priscilla" or "Lisa Marie" [both names were said with Bruce doing his Elvis voice, which is PERFECT]. We were very careful about that sort of thing. Though I guess it'd be nice if they did try to sue us. It would help us get some publicity"
Finally someone asked "In your whole career who would you say is your favorite character and could you do an impression of them?" Bruce: "My whole career? You know, I still have a lot more career ahead of me, I'm not dead yet. Well I'd have to say Elvis. He's really one of the only multi-dimensional characters I've gotten a chance to play in a movie." Bruce then proceeded to do some of the GREAT lines from the movie and of course we all went nuts. If I have a major regret about this fabulous night it was that there was no time for pictures or autographs, bummer. But Bruce is understandably a busy guy and still had one more screening full of primitive screwheads to entertain that night so he had to leave. What an amazing night, my friends and I, (lets call them Professor SeXavier, Mrs. Jack Sparrow, the Wandering Atheist and Jason Mewes version 2.0 - most of us Columbia film students, all of us film fans) raved about the movie long into the night.
Faithfully submitted,
Singing and Dancing Ash
You might wonder why we are still running reviews for this film. I mean, we’ve been covering it forever. I think pretty much every regular reviewer at the site’s had a crack at it by now. Some of us have seen it four or five times. And we’ve run dozens and dozens of your reactions. So why keep doing it? Because every place it screens, it’s greeted with the reception that the above scoopers describe. And this is a film that every major (and minor) distributor passed on. This is one of those business decisions that simply doesn’t make sense. I don’t think I’d ever call BUBBA HO-TEP a classic, but it’s an original, and it works, and when audiences get a chance to see it, they love it. It’s that simple, so we’ll keep shouting it from the rooftops, and hopefully all of you who haven’t had the chance to see it yet will at some point soon, and hopefully all the noise we’re making contributes to that in some way.
"Moriarty" out.
