Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)

Getting old can make anyone feel forgotten, even the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Don Coscarelli's "Bubba Ho-Tep," adapted from Joe R. Lansdale's novella, stars Bruce Campbell as a very elderly Elvis Presley in a deliberately over-the-top, gleefully campy horror comedy. It's partly about Elvis, partly about its title character, an ancient Egyptian mummy dressed in a cowboy hat and boots, but mostly about camp. Through narration and flashbacks, we learn that Elvis didn't really die. Years ago, tired of fame, he traded places with an Elvis impersonator, only to see the impersonator die in his place, leaving the real King stranded in obscurity. Now he's wasting away in a shabby East Texas nursing home, laid up with a broken hip and an embarrassing ailment, alongside a fellow resident (Ossie Davis) who insists he's John F. Kennedy, claiming the government dyed him Black and hid him away. When their fellow residents start dying under mysterious circumstances, and strange hieroglyphics appear on a bathroom stall wall, the two realize the soul-sucking mummy is feeding on them, figuring no one will notice. It all leads to a showdown in which two old men with a walker and a motorized wheelchair take on the undead. It unfolds a bit slowly; after all, it's a movie about senior citizens battling a cowboy mummy. One wishes the pacing had taken its cue from the surprisingly spry mummy rather than its elderly heroes. But Campbell is flawless as the aging King; his accent, mannerisms, trademark sunglasses and karate moves are sincere and over the top at the same time.