“… And so what happens is these guys befriend each other, and this crazy guy thinks that there’s a mummy that’s sucking the souls out of the old people in the rest home at night. And it turns out that he’s right. So Elvis and Jack Kennedy team up and kick the mummy’s ass and save the rest home.”

Intriguing, isn’t it? Who would look at a plot like that and think, “Yeah, that could be a great movie!”

Bruce Campbell, of course. That’s right, “Evil Dead” fans, the world’s most famous B-movie actor is back. And judging from his latest project, his taste in acting roles hasn’t dulled over time.

“It’s based on a novella by a guy named Joe Lansdale, and it was adapted to a screenplay by Don Coscarelli, who wrote and directed it … it’s a redemptive Elvis-Mummy movie,” Campbell told The Badger Herald via telephone. He was referring to his latest project, “Bubba Ho-Tep,” which hits theaters across the country in early September.

Anyone at all familiar with Campbell’s previous work should not be surprised by his taste in movie roles. He got his big break in “Evil Dead,” along with future “Spiderman” mastermind Sam Raimi. “Evil Dead” was filmed in 1979 but not released in the United States until 1983. Stephen King proclaimed the low-budget horror masterpiece “the most ferociously original horror film of the year,” and so an epic series began.

“Evil Dead 2” followed in 1987, “Army of Darkness” closed out the trilogy in 1993, and before long, all three films had serious status as cult classics, a phenomenon that still haunts the movies today.

Even if you haven’t had the pleasure of an “Evil Dead” marathon, chances are you’ve caught Campbell in one of his more than 60 movie, television and video-game appearances — you probably just didn’t notice. He was the actor on a television show in the background of “Fargo,” the wrestling-ring announcer in “Spiderman,” and a demon in an episode of “The X-Files,” just to name a few of his more-recent roles. If you blinked, you very well could have missed him.

He’s also written an autobiography, “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor.” According to Campbell, “It wasn’t so much about telling people about me, it was a chance to tell people about the side of the industry that no one really cares about. Look, 99 percent of people working in the film business are not rich and famous.”

The “Evil Dead” trilogy is undoubtedly what Campbell is best known for. And as with most cult classics, the fan base is dedicated, to say the least.

Campbell is clearly aware of his cult fame. “I had a kid who threw my first book down on the table at a book signing and said, ‘Sign my book,’ with kind of an attitude. So I was making small talk, trying to chill the guy out a little bit, and I said, ‘What’s your name?’ He goes, ‘My name’s Ash.’ And I said, ‘Ha ha, very funny,’ you know, ‘very clever.’ And he goes, ‘No, seriously, my name’s Ash. My parents named me after your stupid movie.’

“So he was stuck with the name Ash because of his parents. I’m actually into the second generation of fans now … with a mainstream movie, a thousand people see a movie once; with a cult movie, one person will see a movie a thousand times,” he said.

It seems entirely plausible that Campbell would, by now, be tired of answering questions about films he did years ago. However, this is not the case. “I can answer anything about the ‘Evil Dead’ movies, as long as it’s a fresh approach, or someone’s attempting to actually find something out. But if [reporters are] just going down the list on their little sheet of paper — yeah, that gets a little boring,” he said.

So, is “Bubba Ho-Tep” Campbell’s triumphant return to B-horror-movie stardom?

“Well, you know what it is — it’s a horror movie that’s not a horror movie,” Campbell said. “Everyone might think it’s a horror film — it has horror aspects, with horror filmmakers and horror actors involved, but, you know, it really isn’t. It’s really the story of how two old people become useful again, basically.”

Some may write “Bubba Ho-Tep” off as a B-movie, but Campbell stressed, “B-movies don’t necessarily mean ‘bad,’ just as A-movies don’t necessarily mean ‘good.’ B-movies are the scripts that no one wanted to make, or they are the hand-me-downs and the castoffs. It just means that we B-movie actors get sloppy seconds.”

In fact, “Bubba Ho-Tep” may end up being one of the rare B-movies that make it big. It has already played to sold-out screenings at multiple film festivals, including SXSW in Texas, the Florida Film Festival, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and the Brussels International Film Festival, in addition to being named an official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival.

“I’ve been to probably half a dozen midnight screenings, and it plays really well. It’s a real crowd-pleaser,” Campbell said.

Horror movies in general seem to be predestined for cult status. With the potential for cheap special effects, simplistic plot lines and lots of gore, it’s easy for a scary movie to turn into a pseudo-comedy. But there’s just something about horror movies that draws versatile actors like Campbell.

“Aside from a comedy, it’s the only genre that can viscerally get the audience engaged. Only horror films make people scream. Only horror films can get a whole audience to go, ‘AAAHHH!’ A horror film gets them stompin’. There’s nothing better in your life than to sit and watch these crazy people going, ‘Kill her! Kill her!’ And then something else would happen that they didn’t expect, and they’d scream out, ‘Oh, shit, you asshole!’ They really get into it,” Campbell said.

This fall may prove a competitive one for the horror-movie business, as a higher-than-average amount of horror flicks will be released in upcoming months (a remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and a re-release of “Alien,” just to name a couple). Campbell doesn’t see films like “Bubba Ho-Tep” and these mainstream blockbusters in the same light, though.

“Well, B-movies are not a real good way to make money, it’s not a good way to retire, but I find them more interesting. Because Tom Cruise is not going to have cancer on his penis [as Campbell’s Elvis does in Bubba Ho-Tep] and cover himself up with makeup for two hours. He’s not going to do it,” Campbell said.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what makes Bruce Campbell different from your average, everyday, mainstream actor. He’s not afraid to accept small roles, to take chances on movies no one else would accept, to miss a “big break.”

“No, I figure the trick is to make the best out of every situation. Make the best out of every script, every role … you know, you try to make the magic with what you’ve got, because you can’t wait for Spielberg to give you a call. That’s a little unrealistic.”

Bruce Campbell’s new movie, “Bubba Ho-Tep,” will be in theaters across the country beginning in September. He is currently at work on a new book, “Making Love the Bruce Campbell Way,” which is due to his shelves in spring 2004. Catch up with him online at www.bruce-campbell.com.