from Chris Snelgrove
| Published
Bruce Campbell is genre royalty and has appeared in many films, but is still best known to film buffs for The evil dead franchise. If you’re like us, you find Campbell’s performances more addictive than a sugary soda from S-Mart, and you’re always on the hunt for more movies with his handsome, slightly rubbery face. If you’re ready to salute the king, here’s some good news: you can now stream Buba Ho-TepCampbell’s weirdest movie, totally free on Tubi.
What the hell is it Buba Ho-Tep for? Bruce Campbell plays an elderly man in a nursing home who claims to be the very much alive Elvis Presley. He teams up with Jack (played by Ossie Davis), a man who claims to be President John F. Kennedy, healed after the assassination attempt and transformed into a black man. Together, they must stop a resurrected and rampaging Egyptian mummy that Campbell’s character playfully calls “Bubba Ho-Tep.”
Now, if you felt like you were having a stroke while reading this description, here’s a fair warning: that’s pretty much what it feels like to watch it from start to finish. The film begins with a crazy premise about a long-dead celebrity and a president teaming up to stop a different species evil dead. As a fan of the genre, I loved how this movie was weirder than beginning than most movies ever do, and it got delightfully weirder with every scene.
If you are a very literary geek, then the name Bubba Ho-Tep it may sound familiar. That’s because it’s based on a novel of the same name written by Joe R. Lansdale. The movie is fairly faithful in its adaptation, so if you liked the novella, you’ll probably dig the movie (and vice versa). It’s a solid story made that much better by the inclusion of Bruce Campbell playing opposite type as an aging rock star despite being only 44 when the film came out.
Speaking of Buba Ho-TepThe great story of, it won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay, a very prestigious horror award. That’s because the film goes deeper than Bruce Campbell’s battle with the evil dead. It also deals with what it means to grow old and become useless, and what people will go to in order to feel that they still matter. It’s a poignant meditation on age and aging, albeit in the form of a completely wacky horror comedy.
Buba Ho-Tep wasn’t exactly a box office darling, earning just $1.2 million against a $1 million budget. This was because it was shown primarily through film festivals rather than a traditional world debut. Despite this very limited release, it didn’t take long for the film to win over critics and audiences alike.
included Rotten Tomatoes, Buba Ho-Tep has a critical score of 78 percent and an audience score of 79 percent. Critics generally praised how the film seamlessly blends quirky and over-the-top comedy with wistful and wistful nostalgia for lost youth and better days. You get the best of both worlds with this movie: it’s a terrible Bruce Campbell horror comedy that might just make you cry when you least expect it.
Will Buba Ho-Tep make you laugh, cry, or maybe a little of both? You won’t know until you stream it for free on Tubi. Then you may never look at Bruce Campbell the same way, and you’ll be able to put all the so-called history experts in your orbit in one place by reminding them that Elvis and John F. Kennedy didn’t die decades ago, but instead lived long enough to save the world from an evil mummy.
BUBBA HO-TEP REVIEW RESULT
