This refusal to let go has spawned a cottage industry of Elvis sightings all over the world but most notably in the western states like Nevada, a state frequented by the man in his later days. The weekly tabloids routinely publish fuzzy photos of such sightings that are claimed to be "authentic" by the trailer trash that sell them in their effort to obtain their promised 15 minutes (usually translating into 15 seconds) of fame. If it any wonder then that I picked up an independent movie on the subject, Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Just Saw Him Eating A Ding Dong! when it became available? The show is less a documentary than a light natured goof on the subject (often referred to as a mockumentary, like Spinal Tap was) years ago.

The story had a simple premise; a wannabe director is given the chance to make a documentary about people who claim to have seen Elvis Presley alive and well sometime after his death. The crew prints up fliers and posts them all over the country with a toll free number for all the kooks to call in and leave messages. He then goes across the country and interviews the people, each of whom seems to have a few (or more) screws loose as they detail their so-called sightings for the camera.

The movie had cameos by a number of famous people playing those who've magically spotted Elvis, including Rip Taylor, Fred Willard, Vicki Lawrence, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Richard Selzer, and so many others of lesser fame. Some of the funniest moments were actually messages left on the answering machine or by people who extrapolate Elvis sightings by virtue of their faulty reasoning rather than those who've actually claimed to see the King, and it should be noted that the more famous people of the show were all given the weakest material to work with. But for them, the entire movie could've passed for an actual documentary with some of the simplest minds of the world likely believing the material.

The biggest problem I had with the movie was the way it started to fall apart midway through the show. The writing deteriorated and the admittedly flimsy premise buckled as a result. A friend watching it with me went from complimenting it with her repeated laughter to suggesting it was, and I quote, "the worst movie I've ever seen". It wasn't that bad but it did get tired and the attempts to repeatedly interject the lifeless crew into the proceedings sure didn't help what might've been funnier if edited down to about 30 minutes. The bitchy producer, the introduction of the merchandising aspect and the overall movie inside a movie idea while time tested, worked about as poorly as usual this time, leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth about the movie.

Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Just Saw Him Eating A Ding Dong! might be worth a rental to huge fans of Elvis Presley that want to see just how others see them (those who claim to have spotted Elvis at least) but I feel obligated to give it a Skip It, even with the occasional bright moment the movie offered. I like Elvis's movies, some of his music, and thought he was a great guy caught up in the fame that ultimately ended his life but this movie had so few, and so fleeting, moments worth watching that a trailer could've been made of them that would've worked better. If you're one of the people claiming to have spotted Elvis, this movie will probably cause you to have convulsions so avoid it at all costs, so act accordingly but note that the movie was as much a kindly tribute to Elvis Presley as it was to the strength of his bond to fans so desperate to keep him alive that they'll do anything to achieve their goal.

Picture: Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Just Saw Him Eating A Ding Dong! was presented in the same 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was so in back in the late 1990's. It had a lot of grain, video noise, out of focus moments, inaccurate fleshtones, and other issues distracting the eye from what was going on. Some of this was undoubtedly intentional and the rest of it was likely the result of a tiny budget but the compositional matters were almost certainly the result of a newbie working the camera. I did see some compression artifacts along with the dirty print used (scratches, missing frames, etc.) but they were the least of the problems here.

Sound: The audio was reportedly presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital English track but it didn't sound all that impressive to me. This was likely due to the manner in which the sound elements were given the short end of the budget since the vocals were weak, I didn't notice any separation between the channels, even when using headphones, and the dynamic range was anything but dynamic. On a positive note, the soundtrack was interesting and if a cleaner CD of the music had been included with the DVD, I'd have bumped up the rating a notch based solely on that. It wasn't Elvis music but it matched many of the understated visual elements of the movie so while it didn't sound as pleasant as it should have, it wasn't bad at all.

Extras: There were absolutely no extras included on this bare bones release.

Final Thoughts: Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Just Saw Him Eating A Ding Dong! was a deeply flawed film about a man so popular that even recently, a woman in porn, Teagan Presley, gave herself a stage name to reflect a connection between her and The King. As much an homage to the deceased pop culture icon as a light hearted look at the legacy he left behind, Elvis Is Alive! I Swear I Just Saw Him Eating A Ding Dong!, captures the essence of the personalities behind those who claim to have spotted the man since his death. If you're in the market for a low budget movie based on this premise, I suppose you'll want to check it out but for all the promise it started with, it fell flat far too early to appreciate in my book.