Bubba Ho-Tep
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Don Coscarelli
Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Heidi Marnhout, Bob Ivy, Reggie Bannister, Daniel Roebuck
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated R | 93 Minutes
Release Date: November 8, 2016

“Even a big bitch cockroach like you should know… never, but never, fuck with the King.”

From writer-director Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, John Dies At The End), 2002’s Bubba Ho-Tep is one of the craziest horror comedies you’ll ever see. When mysterious deaths plague a Texas retirement home, it’s up to Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) and President John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) to battle a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy dressed like a cowboy.

An elderly man (Campbell) resides at the Shady Rest Retirement Home where he tells anyone that will listen that he’s “The King” himself, Elvis Presley. He explains that during the ’70s, he grew tired of fame and switched places with Sebastian Haff, an Elvis impersonator. It was Haff who died on the toilet in 1977, while he – the real Elvis – lived a quiet life pretending to be himself. Twenty years after a hip injury ended his impersonator career, Elvis is living in a retirement home with cancerous growth on his “pecker.”

strong>Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm series, one of the greatest and most enduring horror franchises of them all, has terrified millions of fans around the world and given them an iconic villain to forever haunt their nightmares in the form of the glowering Tall Man, played to perfection by the late Angus Scrimm. The original film, made on a scrappy budget of $300,000 and released to outstanding international box office in 1979, celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2014 with the surprising news that a fifth installment in the series was on its way.

You can watch a teaser trailer for the long-awaited fourth sequel to the original, entitled Phantasm: Ravager, here below.

For many years Shout! Factory has been an important presence at the San Diego Comic-Con, using their panels and booths to promote current and upcoming releases on DVD and Blu-ray. When the company launched their horror/sci-fi imprint Scream Factory in 2012, their pilgrimage to the Con to announce future releases became one of the hottest events around for film geeks and home video consumers.

Scream has been responsible for some of the finest Blu-ray editions of the greatest genre features ever made, and last night they announced that soon they will add 13 titles to their ever-expanding library.

Bruce Campbell. The man, the myth, the mighty chin.

In the realm of cult cinema there is no greater name than his. Bruce embodies all the great qualities we look for in our cinematic icons: talent, personality, wit, charisma, humility, grace, and honesty. He may never be accepted in the Hollywood circles like so many before him who got their start in B-movies and then forgot about where they came from, because Bruce will never betray his roots or his massive, well-deserved international fanbase. Any movie he’s part of, be it a clever cameo (the Spider-Man movies) or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it bit part (the last shot of Darkman, The Demolitionist, several recent Coen Brothers flicks), is all the better for his presence alone, but Bruce has more acting talent than his extensive resume of Sci-Fi channel flicks, failed television shows, and countless convention appearances would reveal to the uninitiated.

Here’s a list of Bruce’s 10 best performances in film and television, in the humble opinion of this writer.

Bubba Ho-Tep
Limited Collector’s Edition
Directed by Don Coscarelli
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis, Ella Joyce, Heidi Marnhout, Bob Ivy
MGM Home Entertainment
Available Now

Before I get started, I have a confession to make”¦ I did not grow up worshiping at the altar of Bruce Campbell. I’d heard the name, but I really had no idea who the guy was. And coming from a self-professed cinephile and pop-culture junkie, I know that this information is a big blow to my credibility”¦ In my defense, I have since seen all of the man’s films, read both of his books, and worship at the altar of Bruce Campbell regularly.

But then I read an article in my local paper about a little movie called Bubba Ho-Tep that was going to be playing at our small, alternative cinema. I really couldn’t believe what I was reading as the article discussed the plot of the film. For those who don’t know, in a nutshell the film is about two residents of an old folks home — who may or may not be Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy — who have to team up to battle an ancient Mummy that is stalking the old folks living in the home.

Brilliant, right? But wait, it gets better!