Just watched this one last night. This is another one that I've been meaning to watch for forever, but just never got around to it, but I finally got around to it and it's well worth a watch. For those of you that aren't familiar with this movie's premise, here it is: Bruce Campbell plays an elderly Elvis (the real one who switched lives with an impersonator back in the 70s) living in a nursing home in texas with a black man who's convinced he's JFK (Ossie Davis), and their nursing home and its residents are under attack by an ancient mummy, and Elvis and black JFK have to save the day (that is quite possibly one of the craziest sentences I've ever written). If you are a sane intelligent human being, chances are you read that synopsis and said "oh my god, that sounds crazy," for some of you it should make sense though if I told you the movie was directed by Don Coscarelli (Phantasm series, John Dies at the End (2012). For those of you who don't know the insanity that is Don Coscarelli let me explain/describe the other movies he's best known for: Phantasm (1979) is the story of a boy and a disgruntled Ice cream man battling a demonic/alien mortician named "the tall man" and a metal flying orb with blades on it that drills through peoples skulls, and John Dies at the End (2012) (which I previously reviewed) is about two college aged men who take a mysterious drug called "soy sauce" and become paranormal interdimensional warriors. So this film fits perfectly into Coscarelli's usual brand
of craziness. Bruce Campbell is hilarious and very believable as an elderly Elvis who regrets switching identities with an impersonator so he could escape fame and start over, he misses Priscilla, Lisa Marie, and the fame. But with the arrival of the mummy wreaking havoc on the Shady Oaks rest home he has found a new reason to live; to save the shady oaks residents. The chemistry between Cambpell and Ossie Davis is perfect and the movie is laugh out loud funny. It's also great to see Campbell in another role after Army of Darkness (1992) where he can call everybody "baby" and be "the king" again. The movie is relatively low budget (like most of coscarelli's movies) but the makeup and special effects are effective. Also make no mistake, though this is a definite comedy, it is a horror movie, a horror-comedy, the creepy atmosphere in the old folks home at night is very well done. The humor is pretty vulgar, that's just a head's up in case vulgar humor's not your thing. There are also lots of great lines like " I hate to tell you this Jack, but Kennedy wasn't black." "I know that, they dyed me this color!" If you're a fan of wacky movies, or horror movies/horror comedies, I highly recommend this one. Also if you like either Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) or The Big Lebowski (1998) this one has a similar wacky feel to it. I give it a 4.5/5; This film is available to be streamed on Netflix, and it is also available through Xfinity OnDemand with Comcast. For some reason Blogger won't let me upload the trailer I want as a youtube clip so I'll put the link to the better version of the trailers for it here.
This is the newest film by director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm series, Bubba Ho-tep [features Bruce Campbell as an elderly Elvis battling a mummy in a nursing home for crying out loud!], and Beastmaster). It is a wacky non linear film (what Coscarelli film isn't wacky?) that features Dave and John, two college dropouts who are also interdimensional paranormal warriors. This movie is like a cross between Buckaroo Banzai, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and Ghostbusters. The plot is super confusing and don't even worry about understanding it because this film is purely enjoyable because of its weirdness alone, as well as its humor, the acting is good but this isn't a movie you watch for the acting, the heroes battle a monster made entirely out of deli meats and has an uncooked chicken for a head!
(that is not the main villain of the film though) This one has Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown as its biggest name actors, and spoiler John doesn't die at the end. Who would have thunk this craziness didn't just come from the mind of Coscarelli, it was a book first, and a web-serial even before that. Genre wise this movie is a mix between sci-fi horror comedy and action. I'll say this I thought it was good, I didn't love it, but if it was a new TV show I would totally watch it, (I don't like most new TV shows) it would be like a wackier more indie version of Supernatural. It's almost too wacky for me though, I give it a 4/5, view the trailer below:
