The Best Bruce Campbell Movie, According To Us
We talk about our choice for the best Bruce Campbell movie, Bubba Ho-Tep.
The legendary Bruce Campbell is a cult movie figurehead, and we’re here to talk about what we consider to be his best film: Bubba Ho-Tep. While you may think the obvious choice for the best Bruce Campbell film would fall somewhere within the realm of the Evil Dead universe, you’re not wrong to think that. But Bubba Ho-Tep boasts a 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, which is quite impressive considering the subject matter of the film, which we’re about to get into.
By now we all know that Elvis Presley died in 1977, but Bubba Ho-Tep gives us an alternate take on what actually happened to the king of rock-and-roll. We learn through narration that Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) became tired of the demands of fame, and the rock-and-roll lifestyle that came along with it. In an effort to live out the rest of his life in peaceful obscurity, Elvis switched identities with an Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff, who took his place in the limelight as the real Elvis.
Now, this seems like a great arrangement at first. On one hand, Haff gets to live out his wildest rock-star dreams as the real Elvis, and Elvis gets to make a modest living playing his own songs disguised as Haff (disguised as Elvis), but in a reduced capacity. However, things get complicated when Haff’s excessive lifestyle causes him to die in 1977, and the only documentation that proves Elvis’ true identity was destroyed in a propane explosion.
Because of this kerfuffle, we find the real Elvis (Bruce Campbell) residing at Shady Rest retirement home under the identity of Sebastian Haff after breaking his hip, and none of the orderlies believe his story.
And the orderlies are right to be weary of Elvis’ recounting of events in this Bruce Campbell film. Not only is this a ridiculous story to wrap one’s head around without proper documentation to substantiate his claims, but the staff at Shady Rest Retirement Home hear these kinds of stories all the time from their residents. The most notable delusion they find themselves dealing with comes from Jack, a black man who insists that he’s actually President John F. Kennedy.
Now that we’ve given you the premise, we now need to introduce the conflict that shows itself in the form of an ancient Egyptian mummy who feasts on the souls of the residents of Shady Rest Retirement Home in this Bruce Campbell film. Elvis refers to the monster as some sort of “Bubba Ho-Tep,” in regard to the mummy’s cowboy getup.
Though we’re not quite ready to invest in Jack’s JFK story, we find out that he’s had a run in with the mummy himself, and there is some validity to his claims. Although Jack claims to have had his brain replaced with a bag of sand, he’s still able to vividly recount the very real experience in which the mummy tried sucking his soul out of his butt. He claims that a human soul can be sucked out of any major orifice, but since this is a Bruce Campbell film we’re talking about, we’re not surprised about this form of posterior treatment.
Now that we’ve established the setting, and the primary source of conflict, we need to talk about the action plan. It wouldn’t be a Bruce Campbell film without some sort of weaponry involved, and in the case of Bubba Ho-Tep, we see Elvis brandishing a makeshift flamethrower as his primary line of defense. But all doesn’t go according to plan in their final battle with the titular mummy.
There’s so much humor, tastefully placed vulgarity, and comical gore in Bubba Ho-Tep, that we naturally have to consider it our favorite Bruce Campbell film. Though the Evil Dead franchise is legendary in its own right, Bubba Ho-Tep is one of those once-in-a-lifetime films that’s as absurd as it is amazing, which is why it has such a special place in our hearts.
