Elvis battling vampires? Please say yes to this, Bruce

Having failed to watch any movies this weekend except "Serenity," I was beginning to think there was nothing to talk about today. And then I found something so crazy it made me wake up right away.

If you somehow haven't seen "Bubba Ho-Tep," do so as soon as possible. It's much more fun and surprisingly moving than I can make it sound here, but you've got Bruce Campbell as Elvis and Ossie Davis as JFK and, well, a mummy. And now, thanks, to the twisted mind of Don Coscarelli, it seems we may be in for even more fun.

In a prequel of sorts, "Bubba Nosferatu and the Coven of She-Vampires," the king would be filming a movie in Louisiana when he runs afoul of a coven of, well, she-vampires. And, believe it or not, Paul Giamatti is somehow involved in this madness, to play Col Tom Parker.

What in the world would compel him to do this? Well, as you can probably guess just by looking at him, Giamatti is just a big geek at heart. Here's what he had to say about this to Rotten Tomatoes:

"Did you ever see Bubba Ho-Tep? Great movie. And that director [Don Coscarelli], I love that guy's movies. All the Phantasm movies and stuff. But we are trying to do it."

I'm definitely with him on the "Phantasm" movies (of which there will apparently be a fifth, also from Mr. Coscarelli, in 2008.) The only thing holding this up, apparently, is Elvis. I'd be surprised if Bruce Campbell really does turn his back on this, but so far he's apparently hesitating. Again, Mr. Giamatti:

"Bruce Campbell was waffling around about whether he wants to play Elvis or not again. So that's the problem. I'm playing Colonel Parker, which will be great, but you gotta have Elvis and you really want him playing Elvis, so hopefully we can get him to do it. If not, I'm sure they will try and find somebody else but I think it's contingent on whether he'll do it or not."

Mr. Giamatti, of course, will be in another extremely silly movie very soon, "Shoot 'Em Up," set for release Sept. 7. In the meantime I at least get to spend my Monday thinking about Elvis battling she-vamps, which is of course so much more pleasant than anything else that might come up at my actual job.

Warning: It's gonna get geeky in here

Oddly enough, I found this e-mail from the folks at TFAW.com just after I had finished watching all the "Serenity" extras (and this is a special edition truly worthy of the name, for once.)

It seems that among the "Serenity" and "Firefly" toys you can buy there is a brand new release, the actual papers for the Serenity vessel (no, I'm not kidding.) If you actually have $120 to spend on something as silly (yet undeniably cool) as this, you can get 13, 8 1/2-14 inch papers from the ship, one of which I've included at right. And, if you somehow missed out on the Buffy Season 8 comics, TFAW recently reissued the first four titles (which quickly sold out), and they're promising to do it again very soon, so stay tuned.

And, possibly even better than that is that Eliza Dushku is coming back to Fox TV, and possibly in something that's not craptastic. This rather radical idea comes from Aintitcool, so I'll give all credit before proceeding.

Faith has apparently signed a development deal with Fox and is now in the process of meeting the networks's stable of writers. And who's sitting at Fox with nothing to do at the moment? "Angel" veteran Tim Minear (having been mercifully removed from the sure-to-be-wretched "Angel" ripoff "Moonlight.") So, and as I said I can't take credit for this idea, why not bring the two together for a "Faith the Vampire Slayer"?

That's not even a rumor at this point, but every idea has to start somewhere. Dream with me, people, and I guarantee you'll have a much more bearable Monday. Peace out.