Bubba Ho-Tep

Elvis Presley didn't die in 1977. The King found dead on the throne that day was actually Nathaniel Huff, an Elvis impersonator with whom the real King, tiring of the demands of fame, had traded places some years earlier, before a combination of circumstances meant he couldn't reveal the deception.

Now, Elvis is stuck in an old folks home in a quiet Texas backwater. No one believes he's the King – they all think he's a cracked Elvis imperator who took his act a bit too far. Well, one guy believes him – but he's a black dude who claims to be JFK and explains away his change of skin colour as the work of the secret services.

Understandably, then, our two heroes can't very well tell the authorities when they realise that a soul-sucking Egyptian mummy is preying on the residents of the home…

With Don "Phantasm" Coscarelli directing and Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell starring, Bubba Ho-Tep certainly had the potential to be a good horror-comedy hybrid.

As horror the film fails utterly. It doesn't work as a rollercoaster-ride – the monster, FX and action are too perfunctory for that – nor as a creepy skin-crawler, failing to exploit the inherent possibilities afforded by its setting and the monster's potentially terrifying ability.

As comedy it is more successful, but the over-reliance on crude gags also compromises the serious subtext of an elderly man reflecting on the course of his life and the mistakes he has made along the way. Even the likes of House and Fright Night did better with the ha-ha only serious stuff.

And while Campbell's assorted Elvis-isms are enjoyable, it has to be said that his make-up and movements don't always convince.

When all is said and done, Bubba Ho-Tep is a missed opportunity.