Everything moves slowly in Bubba Ho-tep, it's geriatric heroes, the shambling mummy monster, the camera, Brian Tyler's delightful score, no one's in much of a rush. The 2002 movie is one of star Bruce Campbell's biggest hits and it's pretty darn good. Bruce is Elvis, the real Elvis Presley. He'd traded places with an Elvis impersonator in the 70's to get away from his excessive lifestyle. He'd lost his proof in a freak trailer fire and then the fake Elvis died. Years past and he's enjoyed his life as a fake Elvis. He'd fallen at a show and then fallen on hard times. Now he's all alone in a Texas nursing home where no one believes he's really the King. Ossie Davis plays Jack, a guy who claims he was JFK. After Dallas he was patched up, dyed black and tossed aside. No one believes him either. Weird things start happening, people die, the mummy is spotted and the slo-mo fight is on. Don Coscarelli is the writer and director of the movie. Joe Lansdale wrote the original story. I'm a fan of Don's work but not much of a fan of Joe's writing. Don created one of my favorite horror films, Phantasm. I remember going to see it in the theater with Friday Night Movie regular Joe and his then gal pal Annie. Haven't seen her in more than 20 years I think. Don went on to make some sequels to Phantasm and a few other movies. Bubba Ho-tep was his big hit, though Phantasm sure has it's fans. It had been awhile since I'd seen BH, I'd forgotten much of the story's detail, so it was fun to watch again. I did remember the Brian Tyler soundtrack. I used to play it all the time. Both the movie and the soundtrack are worth experiencing and they're both a great addition to your personal collection.
Our next film was Burke & Hare, a 2010 John Landis comedy about the famous grave-robbers from the early 1820's. Like so many of the previous movies about the two men it's loosely based on their lives. Simon Pegg plays William Burke and Andy Serkis plays William Hare. There are plenty of people in the cast you might know of, Tom Wilkerson, Tim Curry, Ronnie Corbett, Bill Bailey, Christopher Lee and Isla Fisher. Some famous directors are dressed up and given cameos for us to spot. Both William's are Irish men living in Edinburgh. They'd moved there to work on the Union Canal and now that it's done there isn't much by way of employment. They find out that dead bodies are worth a pretty penny so they try their hand, first at grave robbing and when that doesn't go so well, murder. The medical profession was pretty powerful in those days and they needed bodies to dissect for their anatomy classes. Cadavers were in short supply and the doctors were prone to look the other way. Too many people went missing and eventually our guys are nicked. In real life Hare and his wife turn King's evidence and Burke and his girlfriend take the fall. She gets off and Burke gets hung. In the movie Hare is slightly less sleazy and there's a deal offered. Burke offers to confess because of his guilty feelings and everyone else is set free. Burke gets hung and the movie ends with a shot of Burke's skeleton in an Edinburgh medical museum. I looked it up and that part is true. When Burke was convicted he was hung and the next day they dissected him and put his corpse on display. Tens of thousands came to view it. The skeleton is really still on display. Fitting touch to the life of Mr Burke, huh. The movie looks good and the streets of Edinburgh still have many of the places the men would have been still standing. The cast is great and the story ok. It's funny enough and I liked the characters well enough. Not something I think I would buy but was glad I saw.
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