Plot

When residents of their nursing home start dying of dubious causes, an aged Elvis and an African-American senior who claims to be President John F. Kennedy discover that the perpetrator is an Egyptian mummy with murderous intentions.

Based on the Bram Stoker Award nominee short story by cult author Joe R. Lansdale, Bubba Ho-tep tells the "true" story of what really did become of Elvis Presley. We find Elvis (Bruce Campbell) as an elderly resident in an East Texas rest home, who switched identities with an Elvis impersonator years before his "death", then missed his chance to switch back. Elvis teams up with Jack (Ossie Davis), a fellow nursing home resident who thinks that he is actually President John F. Kennedy, and the two valiant old codgers sally forth to battle an evil Egyptian entity who has chosen their long-term care facility as his happy hunting grounds.—Eric Shovanda

In Mud Creek, Texas, at the Shady Rest Convalescence Center, a man called Sebastian Half claims to be the real Elvis Presley. He has been living in coma at the home for twenty years since he tripped off the stage. Sebastian explains that he switched places with an Elvis impersonator since he was tired of his fame but their contract that could prove his real identity was accidentally burnt to ashes in a barbecue. When his friend Jack, who is a black man that claims to be President John Kennedy, shows evidence that an ancient Egyptian mummy is sucking the souls of the residents of the nursing home, the skeptical Sebastian sees evidences that show that his friend is correct. Now the two old men plot how to stop the mummy.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sebastian and Jack are residents of the Shady Rest Nursing Home in Mud Creek, East Texas. They truly believe that they are Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy respectively, with Sebastian's story - Sebastian, an Elvis impersonator, who secretly traded places with the real Elvis in Elvis getting tired of his life - only marginally more credible than Jack's for one obvious reason, with Sebastian considering Jack to be "certifiable" in the process. Further, Jack is a conspiracy theorist who believes that his current predicament is all the doing of Lyndon B. Johnson who is still after him to eliminate him for good. Both in the twilight of their lives, they face a multitude of health problems - including mobility issues - one with which Sebastian is dealing affecting a sensitive appendage. In separate situations, they have heard scuttling sounds around the nursing home late at night, Sebastian who comes face-to-face with what he initially believes is solely a mean, fist-sized cockroach. Jack, however, has done research believing the cockroach to be an escaped Egyptian mummy who is coming to life by stealing the souls of the elderly in the nursing home, Bubba Ho-tep - what Sebastian names it - doing so by entering human bodies through one specific lower back side orifice. If true, the existence of Bubba Ho-tep would explain the rash of recent deaths at the home. As such, Sebastian and Jack join forces to find out as much as they can about the creature to come up with a plan to destroy it for good, their hope not only to save mankind as they examine their own mortality regardless, but also release the souls of their fallen "comrades".—Huggo