Bruce Campbell and director Don Coscarelli are celebrating 21 years of that nasty, Egyptian soul-sucking mummy matching wits with the King of Rock and Roll and JFK. “Some kind of Bubba Ho-Tep” is terrorizing the residents of Shady Rest, and it’s up to a presumed Elvis Presley impersonator (Campbell) and former United States President John F. Kennedy Jr. (Ossie Davis) to save the day in the hilarious horror comedy, Bubba Ho-Tep. Campbell jumped on social media to share an image and post written by Coscarelli, in which the actor added by emphasizing just how much of an independent venture the 2003 release was. Campbell wrote (via X, formerly Twitter):
Lots of talk about ‘Indie’ this and ‘Indie’ that. Don [Coscarelli] not only financed Bubba himself, he self-distributed. THAT’s an ‘Indie.’
Bubba Ho-Tep’s director wrote in his original post on X: “21 years ago this week, we self released Bubba Ho-Tep into the world with a bunch of film prints and a dream. As Bruce always said, Bubba wasn’t just released — it ESCAPED!” The film is both outrageous and hilarious from the get-go, but there’s no question it makes some controversial decisions along the way. One of the most glaring risks taken is that of an aging JFK, who has not only survived being assassinated, but Jack has also been outwardly altered.
The former president’s skin color has been conveniently dyed black to “hide the truth” about what really happened when Jack was supposedly shot in Dallas. Now, years after Elvis and Jack both supposedly perished, the two “dead” icons race to save the sleepy residents of the retirement home from Bubba Ho-Tep’s (Bob Ivy) undead, evil ways. Don’t worry, it only sounds absurd because it is, but it is also unquestionably one of the funniest horror comedies of all time, too, and a personal favorite of Campbell’s, despite all of his Evil Dead success.
Bruce Campbell Despised All Evil Dead’s Blood & Guts
Bubba Ho-Tep is one of Bruce Campbell’s favorite roles, but most fans know and love the talented thespian for portraying the groovy, chainsaw-wielding S-Mart employee, Ash Williams in the Evil Dead films. But during his stint on the STARZ series, Ash vs Evil Dead, the actor behind the ValueStop supermarket stocker never enjoyed being splattered with blood — and it happened a lot over the years. Campbell said in a 2016 interview with Inverse:
“They have a pressurized beer keg that they’ve converted into a blood keg. Pressurized tubes going in one end, and it shoots it out the other. Very complicated. It’s a very terrifying device. [In the movies], we had a whole different system: you blow sh*t through a green garden hose. We’re much more sophisticated now.
But it’s roughly the same repellent mixture that it always was. It has, you know, food dye in it and things like that, so it doesn’t taste good or smell good. It’s a strange unpleasant substance. I don’t enjoy any blood in my face regardless of how it’s delivered. It’s not an enjoyable process, but it’s effective.”
Despite the blood and guts, Bruce Campbell’s grooviest movies can always be boiled down to being as such because of the most unforgettable and audacious roles he ever portrayed: the Evil Dead’s Ash and Bubba Ho-Tep’s Elvis Presley. But, for whatever reason, there are still those younger fans who have yet to enjoy aging Elvis (Campbell) and JFK’s (Davis) hilarious adventures at the Shady Rest Retirement Home.
Bubba Ho-Tep
is currently available to stream absolutely free on
Tubi
and Pluto TV for those genre fans dying for a delicious horror comedy.