(Cert 15, 92 mins): Starring Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davies and Bob Ivy.

Directed by Don Coscarelli.

Posing the ultimate What If? question, this bizarre tale is so off-kilter, it would make David Lynch scratch his head in bemusement.

Seemingly dreamed up by a movie geek clique fuelled by overactive imaginations and Red Bull, Bubba Ho-Tep surmises that Elvis Presley (Campbell) never died but is alive and living in a Texan old folks home.

Apparently bored by his decadent lifestyle, the Seventies-era King, all rhinestone jumpsuits and gaudy gold bling, swaps places with an impersonator and hits the road as a free man.

However, when the impostor Elvis croaks on the throne and the only evidence linking the two is destroyed in a freak barbecue accident, the real deal finds himself unable to convince anyone he is the original and best.

Fast-forward 30-odd years and the septuagenarian Presley is bed-bound, cantankerous and carrying around an awkward ailment on his nether regions.

Strange enough you would think but chuck in an aged black man who is convinced he is JFK (Davis) and an Egyptian mummy (Ivy) which is stalking the home and removing victims souls via their rectums and youve got a movie that reeks of instant cult classic.

Bruce Campbell, star of The Evil Dead films and the greatest actor youve never heard of puts in probably his strongest performance to date.

He invests Elvis with not only the requisite drawl and mannerisms but a sense of regret at how he spent his life and an unexpected dignity when, for the first time in years, he finds himself with a reason to keep on living even if it is kicking Mummy butt.

Ably supported by a noble showing from Davis, who plays his deluded character with enough gravitas to make his outrageous claims wholly believable, this is a surprising effort.

Judging by the storyline, you would expect plenty of killer lines and kickass moves and, while you do get all that (albeit in a king-of-karate-in-needof-a-hip-replacement kind of way), a deeper meditation on old-age, selfrespect and sense of purpose is thrown into the mix.

While this is far from a great movie, a magnificent central performance, an endlessly quotable script and a resurrected pharaoh in cowboy boots should ensure that everyone pays homage to the King.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis is back in the building.