We went to see “Bubba Ho-Tep” last night. Wonko, Matt and I were all fairly excited (I cannot speak to the feelings of our other friends) about the prospect of a new Bruce Campbell movie, especially one billed as “One man is Elvis. The other thinks he’s JFK. They live in a rest home and fight the undead!”
As Matt said on leaving the movie, “Well, it was good, but it wasn’t the movie I went to see.” It certainly wasn’t an absurdist retro campy zombie romp. I think it would be better billed as “Old men reclaim dignity and identity by battling the unknown.”
In short, “Bubba Ho-Tep” is a lot more serious than you would think. While Bruce Campbell does a really superb Elvis voice - totally believable yet not over-exaggerated, and the film does have some laugh-out-loud moments, the real “horror” in the movie is not the undead monster, but rather the true horror of growing old. People leave you, they no longer care about you; you’re seen as a child, less than a person; you can remember your glory days but not reclaim them; you move slowly, your body fails you; and lastly, you become so involved in your own misery that you start to lose yourself, your joy, your personality. It’s a very serious topic for a movie about a mummy in cowboy boots - and that’s one of the movie’s problems. It’s based on a short story - and it’s much easier in a literary form, especially a short one, to play with betraying people’s expectations of genre and mood. In this case, it’s hard to reconcile the soul-sucking monster in a feathered hat with the palpable pathos of the main characters - it’s hard to know what you’re watching.
That said, it’s a good movie. It’s well-directed, the effects are quite sufficient. The pacing is quite slow - the “building dread” section of a horror movie is here expanded and kept rather low-key. The most impressive thing is, I think, the serious message. There aren’t many movies that I am aware of about the horror of growing old - the first one that pops to mind about a rest home is “Cocoon”, which is of course partially about CHEATING old age, and therefore can’t really be said to depict its horrible visage. The real villain of this movie is anonymity - it’s not that Bubba Ho-Tep kills, it’s the fact that he destroys the soul and personality in so doing. The real fight is against complacence, conformity, and the demands of the body over the spirit. That’s why, I think, it’s important that the main characters are or think they are Elvis and JFK - and why it doesn’t matter whether they are or not. Their glorious heroic identities are the things they are protecting, not their fragile and dwindling lives. You could say that it’s about finding a good death. (And takin’ care of bidness.)
7.5 out of 10. Bottom Line: A little slow/boring, but full of character (mostly Elvis’s) and a compelling human struggle. Slightly schizoid mood. If I’ve told you once, I’ve now told you twice—I reserve the right to waffle!
Comments
My take
Last night, as I left the theater, I felt kinda disappointed. I had rushed through dinner and given up an evening of video games to see Elvis-and-JFK-do-Evil-Dead. That’s not what was playing though, and all through the movie I couldn’t help but wait for it to get exciting. It had moments. It had jokes, and I laughed. But it wasn’t Army of Darkness meets The Mummy, which on some level is what I had gone to see.
Today, having slept on it, I think what happened is I was tricked into seeing a really good film. The remainder of the review will contain spoilers, so I will put it in a reply. The plot of the move is not terribly important. It is the themes I will discuss.
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The advertising for the movie certainly didn’t match the movie. I take it from your “I was tricked into seeing a really good film” remark that you think it was a deliberate mismatch - and you may be right. Judging from the savvy of movie marketers en general, I’d be tempted to say THEY messed up or tried to capitalize on Bruce Campbell’s zombie fame - but I think, in the end, it’s a hard thing to market—you HAVE to market the shell, not the heart.
And note he gave up an evening of video games WITH HIS WIFE. That’s some serious sacrifice. I gave up an evening of video games with my husband and breaking in my new PS2 controller. That’s REALLY serious.
Re: My take [spoiler alert]
I don’t really think about old age that much. I’m 22 and healthy. My family is pretty long-lived. I don’t plan on dying for quite some time.
And that’s the problem. If all goes well, if nothing else kills me, my body will slowly age into a state where I am no longer able to take care of myself. I will persist in that state for years, decades maybe, supported by the wonders of modern medicine. Eventually, something in me will fail and I will die.
That’s scary. That’s a kind of scary that one does not experience all that often in a movie theater. I look at the screen in the movie theater. I see a crazy old man who thinks he’s Elvis (and maybe is). Elvis walks with a walker. He has “a growth on his pecker.” He hasn’t had an erection in a decade. Elvis has been unmanned by time. I look at the screen and I know I’m seeing my future, or something like it.
I went expecting horror-movie scary. There was some of that. But more importantly, there was real scary. There was, over and over again, the realization that some day, I will be old. I will have lived the better part of a century, but people young enough to be my grand children will think nothing of me. I will be less than human to them, because my time has passed. And yet, I will depend on them for everything.
The film is masterfully crafted. The very concept of a Mummy movie about defeating old age is deeply clever.
The construction is such that the Mummy is old age personified. In battling the Mummy, the characters battle against old age. The Mummy sucks your soul out your ass if he gets you, which personifies a loss of both dignity and liveliness in the rest home. The mummy is physically powerful, whereas old age robs you of your strength.
In the end, both characters die. They have defeated old age, but it cost them their lives.
This is the sort of film that I think should win awards, but won’t. It’s not a fun movie. You don’t feel good afterword. But it’s a fine example of film communicating indirectly, rather than directly with images and dialogue.
Even the fact that it feels really long and progresses slowly fits thematically. I give this one 9/10.
Re: My take [spoiler alert]
You’ve said all the things I’d have liked to have said if I hadn’t been too preoccupied wondering whether or not this sentence was or wasn’t turning into a super ultra quadruple double negative.
No, really though, I agree. I expected another Army of Darkness, but, after some reflection, I think what I got was something altogether more complex and, while still funny, at the same time more serious, and with deep hidden meanings and cool literary stuff like that.
Those tricky bastards.