Kemp Rewrote Elvis Songs For Chainsaw Hero, Broke Hand, Won Edinburgh Prizes

An English comic rewrote Elvis songs to tell a horror movie plot, broke his hand on stage, and swept Edinburgh festivals with zero shame.

Kemp built a stage show called The Elvis Dead where he juggles dual roles as Presley and Ash, the chainsaw hero from Evil Dead II.

If you think singing “Jailhouse Rock” about being possessed sounds unhinged, wait until you hear the rest.

The music list includes “Jailhouse Rock” morphing into “Standing in a State of Shock,” while “All Shook Up” gets renamed to “I’ve Been Possessed.”

Kemp even turns “Suspicious Minds” into “Wrapped Up in Vines,” opening with desperate lines about being trapped because the trees intend to kill you.

Nah, but listening to trees kill people in song makes absolutely no sense, and yet here we are.

Kemp encourages the crowd to treat it like a rock concert, demanding they clap and sing along while clips from the film roll on screen behind him.

Honestly, hearing trees threaten to kill someone in any accent breaks my brain in the best way possible.

Wait, Did He Seriously Break His Hand Doing This Gig?

This isn’t just theory. Kemp actually broke his hand while performing previews at the Leicester Comedy Festival in February 2017.

Imagine getting injured playing a possession scene while singing ballads; that reads like dedication I simply cannot muster.

Critics went wild anyway. Bruce Dessau scored it five stars, praising Kemp for channeling Presley, Ash Williams, and Rob Kemp simultaneously.

Dessau noted Kemp could writhing with demons then pop out to check on the crowd using a Midlands accent before resuming the roleplay.

Fest Magazine gave four stars, describing a performer who crawls in zombie blood then instantly regains composure with a lip curl and hip cock ready to sing.

The mix involves chainsaws, quiffs, rifles, and fringed shirts that definitely demand respect.

Even skeptical reviewers admitted it works. The Daily Telegraph compared it to a one-man Rocky Horror Show and warned your enjoyment depends entirely on liking Presley or the original film.

The Guardian agreed it’s for fans, calling the whole premise a “daft idea” that somehow delivers exactly what you want.

Will We Actually Get Beatlesjuice or Just More Monster Madness?

Kemp teased a follow-up called Beatlesjuice at the end of every show, though he later doubted he’d repeat the formula.

He floated other concepts that sound even stranger, including full-size puppets of Godzilla movies with audience faces mapped onto extras in real time.

There’s also a pitch for CSI: Jaws, featuring a shark investigator solving the murder of an innocent shark in Amity.

Eventually, he did announce Beatlesjuice running in August 2025 at a venue called Hoots on the Grassmarket.

Kemp hasn’t heard back from the Evil Dead franchise folks, though he knows Campbell heard about it via Twitter.

He did get support from the producer of Evil Dead The Musical, which proves at least one person appreciates this specific brand of insanity.

Chillers, let’s argue: would you watch a show where Elvis presides over a demonic takeover, or is that too weird even for you?

Source: Wikipedia’s article on “The Elvis Dead”. The facts are theirs; the words are ours.