10 Great Monster Movies You May Have Missed
7. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002(
This comedy-horror from 2002 features a monster-movie trope in the form of a shambling mummy. The plot, however, is anything but conventional. Based on a story by veteran writer Joe R. Lansdale - whose work has graced several films and TV shows including Batman, The Animated Series - Bubba Ho-Tep stars horror legend Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) as Elvis Presley. Now confined to a nursing home, Elvis befriends fellow inmate Jack (Ossie Davis).
Presley confides to Jack that, back in the '70s, he swapped places with a double in order to free himself from the confines of the showbiz life. Jack, in turn, confesses to being John F. Kennedy, explaining that he was not killed in '63 – he survived, was patched up, dyed black and abandoned. With that sort of set-up, the fact that a mummy is stalking the nursing home seems like the most believable aspect of this fantastic film.
Director Don Coscarelli Jr. will be a name familiar to aficionado's of '80s sword and sorcery films as the man behind the original Beastmaster movie. A classic of its genre, Beastmaster resulted in two sequels and one television series. Bubba Ho-Tep is by far a better film.