By the 1980’s it was abandoned and falling apart. county Poor Farm, which served elderly, homeless and mentally ill. The Mud Creek Shady Rest Home was shot at an abandoned hospital located in Downey, California. Bruce Campbell’s Elvis makeup took 3 hours every day of shooting.Ĩ. The film’s production budget was only about $500,000.ħ. Phantasm star Reggie Banister has a small role as the administrator of the nursing home, along with other Phantasm actors, Bob Ivy, Ella Joyce and Heidi Marnhout.Ħ. Coscarelli brought over many of the same crew members who had worked with him on the Phantasm series which he created, spanning (at the time) 4 films.ĥ. Just Elvis looking down at it gives us enough context to know how bad it looks…Ĥ. Upon reading the script, Bruce Campbell’s first question to director Don Coscarelli was whether or not they would show his character’s infected penis.

The original novella featured a third character who was an elderly woman who believed she was a post sex-changed John Dillinger.ģ. According to screenwriter/director Don Coscarelli, Joe Lansdale (author of the source novella) was shocked that anyone would want to adapt his Elvis vs. So to celebrate this largely unknown film’s (at least unknown to the mainstream) 20th anniversary, here are 20 fun facts about Bubba Ho-Tep !ġ. The film is every bit as ridiculous as its premise suggests, but it was made with a lot of heart and at its core is a really wholesome friendship between two elderly people who know that this is their last hurrah.

Written and Directed by Don Coscarelli ( Phantasm ), and starring Bruce Campbell ( Evil Dead ) and Ossie Davis ( The Fugitive TV series, Do the Right Thing ), the movie features an aging Elvis and JFK (who aren’t actually dead) fighting an undead mummy. One movie that perfectly encapsulates all it means to be a B-movie is 2002’s Bubba Ho-Tep. It’s low budget, it’s campy, but it’s all done intentionally so and you can really tell that the people making it had a blast doing so. There’s a charm and joy to B-movie horror that you don’t quite get with other genres.

Joe lansdale bubba ho tep