Written and directed by: Marv Z Silverman and Tracy Wuischpard
Starring: Martin Kove, Alexander Butterfield and Frank Cavestani
Running time: 1 hour and 31 minutes
Unrated but contains: salty language, one very tame sex scene, mild violence, porno playing on a TV monitor and aliens that wouldn't stop looking at me!
"No Thank You. No Thank You, Very Much"
by Hunter Bush
How? How did I draw two films to review, back to back, that are so similar? In my most recent previous Moviejawn piece I wrote about Vampire Burt's Serenade, a film made from the bones of an earlier film, re-edited and re-released under a new name; an obvious passion project (what other explanation could there be?) made by someone with seemingly no understanding of the Hows and Whys of filmmaking. The same could be, must be and is right at this moment being said, by me, about Elvis From Outer Space.
In Marv Z Silverman & Tracy Wuischpard's Elvis From Outer Space, we are told that Elvis did not die. Instead, thanks to the CIA and their relationship with some friendly CGI aliens from the planet Gleebus (yes, really), he has been living in space aboard a flying saucer in the Alpha Centauri star system, performing for the ...Gleebians (?) who I guess just eat that shit up despite looking like they're big fans of Eiffel 65. To combat the aging process, the Gleebons (?) have constructed Elvis a "bio-suit" that doesn't really resemble Elvis at all. That's something I actually liked initially, a hand-wavy explanation of why actor George Thomas doesn't really look anything like Elvis and is half his age, even as of 2007 which is when this flick takes place For No Discernible Reason.
A lot of events in this movie happen For No Discernible Reason actually, which is a wild thing since roughly 90% of this movie is either A) Oppressive Narration, B) On-Screen Text effects stolen from The X-Files' garbage, and C) Info-Dumping Scenes that do nothing to flesh out any of the events beyond reiterating that they are happening. As for the few things that *do* get explained, those explanations are wafer thin. Elvis decides to return to Earth because he's so lonesome he could cry and wants to reunite with - not his real life family but - a woman named Linda Truman with whom he had a one night stand before joining the Army in 1958.
Howdy, kids! Welcome to what I can only assume will be Moviejawn's least popular segment:
Doin' Math and History With Hunter! So, Elvis & Linda do a little good rocking tonight in 1958 and let's say Linda was 18 (she might have been older, or younger but let's just say 18), in the 2007 which this film is set, she would be 67. Elvis, meanwhile, is in a bio-suit body that's conservatively half that age. But he still wants to reunite with ...her? Not saying those kind of age gaps don't or can't exist between consenting adults but romancing a *much* older woman doesn't really seem to have been Elvis's bag. Also, again, not Priscilla or Lisa-Marie or granddaughter Riley Keough whom he's never even met, but One-Night Stand Linda. We're told that he didn't pursue a relationship with her because he went into the Army. Ok, except: Elvis only served in the military until 1960 and did not die (or get whisked away by the Gleebii (?) ) until 1977, so Elvis is supposed to be so obsessed with this woman whom he did absolutely nothing to track down for nearly two decades, that he will risk returning to Earth for her. Nope, that doesn't add up. Thanks for reading Doin' Math and History With Hunter!
So what's Elvis risking? Well, the bio-suit was created and is designed to be worn exclusively in space. We're told the Gleeboes (?) didn't factor in things like gravity (despite there obviously being gravity in every scene aboard their party saucer, but whatever) which will make the bio-suit essentially self-destruct in a few days, killing Elvis for real. So obviously he spends all his time trying to track down Linda, right? Wrong. To be fair, initially he's kidnapped by the CIA but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and presume he didn't know that was gonna happen. I guess they're worried he'll blow the secret that they organized Elvis's trip with the Gleeb-Globs (?) (despite him being unrecognizable as Elvis and that story being a complete hunka hunka burnin' crap) but who could really say? While he's being held, the CIA informs him that Linda is dead, but that he has a daughter he never knew and they're holding her hostage. So Elvis escapes using - I kid you not - electric super karate powers the bio-suit gives him.
Electric Super Karate, y'all! I can't.
So *this* must be when Elvis devotes all his time and attention to tracking down the daughter (Dianne Renée), right? Wrong. He just assumes the alias John Burrows (a.k.a. JB, a supposedly IRL alias of the King's) and joins an Elvis impersonator contest in Vegas and that is where we spend the vast majority of our time: on the day to day of Elvis-as-JB's time being the best Elvis impersonator because he's really Elvis. Before you ask: yes, Virginia, this *is* the backstory from Bubba Ho-Tep, and this flick is OBSESSED with it. The narrator, who has been chatting through basically the entire movie to this point, is finally introduced as a competing impersonator known as Big M (David Heavener) who gets a whole bunch of business to do because he owes the Vegas mafia money? Who could care? Silverman and Wuischpard sure seem to, For No Discernible Reason. Along the way JB-vis beds the event organizer (Lauren-Elaine Powell) and meets the other impersonators (J.M. Dupree & Narrie Baboa who each get approximately one line) including a cameo from writer/director Marv Silverman (who gets a bit more to do) and spends a ridiculous amount of this movie's running time on Vegas-local TV shows, talking about the Elvis contest.
Easy peasy. No drama in sight. This movie lacks stakes, lacks logic, lacks intentional jokes, and lacks Elvis songs! It even lacks a compelling Elvis conspiracy theory! You do get a brief appearance from Martin Kove as a State Trooper, but that's nothing. As mentioned above, this is re-cut from an earlier flick, 2011's Memphis Rising: Elvis Returns which has about 10 extra minutes of footage, but I can't even begin to imagine what's in them. Yet somehow the worst thing of all is how often the Gleeboids (?) break the fourth wall and stare directly at the viewer! It's so incredibly unnerving and unpleasant and it just! keeps! happening! And then the movie has the balls to end on this image which I guess is as good a summation of my feelings as any other, so I'll let it be my final statement:
But Hunter, I can hear you asking - perhaps in your best Elvis Presley impression - how much can you expect from a movie with such an outlandish and pulpy title? Well, quite a lot actually. Last year Robert D. Krzykowski's film The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot hit the streaming and VOD circuit. Beyond being a better movie than the title might lead you to believe, it was quite high on my list of favorite movies of the year: touching, thought-provoking and with a dynamite lead performance from Sam Elliott. It accomplishes all this with, I think you'll agree, the more bombastic title. Allow me to coin a new idiom: You Can't Always Judge a Movie By Its Title.
Except when you absolutely can.
Elvis From Outer Space is available today on Apple TV, Prime video and digital platforms.
The other movies mentioned are currently streaming for free through the listed services/links:
Vampire Burt's Serenade is available on Amazon Prime and Tubi.
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot is available on Hulu and Hoopla.
Bubba Ho-Tep is available Hoopla, Vudu, Tubi and Pluto.
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