Film Review: "Altered By Elvis" Vinyl Foote Productions, USA, 2005, Color, Stereo, Running Time: 54 minutes

8 stories about one man...who changed their lives...forever!

(from Press Kit - " Altered By Elvis")

As a whole, Elvis fandom is a generally amorphous one. Considered singularly, the fragments comprising the predilections and motivations of different fans can, to both the outsider and many inside the world of The King, seem like a crazy, perverted outward reflection of a skewed visceral upbringing. With this in mind, in the 1980s, a fascinating documentary "Mondo Elvis" was screened. Looking at the wacky world of the (extreme) Elvis fan, it provoked derision from mainstream fans and critical commendation by students of our increasingly complex and often morbid society. In 2006 several of the enduring, bizzare-like themes of that earlier film have been transported forward to the present day, and the result is a sometimes frightening, but always enlightening, examination of essentially a minority of unusual fans on the fringes of the Elvis world.

"Altered By Elvis", from Vinyl Foote & Blarma Productions, is directed by two talented film makers, directors Jayce and Tiffany Bartok, with skillful editing provided by Director of Photography, Andy Bates. Including a solid soundtrack and a smattering of some great very early live video footage (sans audio) of the young Hillbilly Cat scorching up the stage, this is a film whose core message resonates with a necessarily uneasy vibration.

Symbolic of both its pedigree and importance as a riveting documentary directly about the King's followers (believers), and indirectly about subliminal aspects of Elvis himself, is the film's Official Selection at the Waterfront, Vail and Memphis International Film Festivals in 2006!

Narratively, "Altered By Elvis" has a schizophrenic nature, driven by the psychologically eclectic divergence that constitutes Elvis fandom. The pot pourri of Elvis fans in the film provide a colorful mosaic of things often extremely Elvis. Sometimes charming, sometimes confronting, above all else, "Altered By Elvis" challenges our perceptions of what is a fan.

From the distasteful Denson brothers, of whom, Elvis World's Bill E. Burk described Jimmy Denson as "his elevator doesn't go to the top", to the heartfelt intentions of Elvis tribute artists, Ray "Stingray" Fitzpatrick and Terry Mike Jeffrey, there is a disturbingly rich tapestry of people calling themselves Elvis fans (or in Jimmy Denson's case, Elvis haters). The owner of "Graceland Too", the well known and typically southern proletariatian, Paul MacLeod, reinforces two of the three "textual" messages symbolically central to his exclusively Elvis filled existence. What one makes of Memphian Vicki Fritz or several not long ago toddlers parading their stuff in Elvis' trademark jumpsuits (albeit mini-size) and sunglasses, will largely be a personal choice. Opposite: Jesse Lee Denson outside the Lauderdale Courts in Memphis

There are also important touches of neo-normality in "Altered By Elvis". We learn how celebrity photographer, the (himself) iconic Alfred Wertheimer, continues to make a living from his "two weeks in 1956" trademark Elvis images, and while the three "Huzzies (be clear though, these are NOT "hussies!") exhibit some odd behaviour, theirs is really only the charming playfulness that afflicts many of us as the seminally heady and carefree days of our youth start to dim thanks to a combination of advancing age and the often trite mundaneness of everyday life.

In a more subdued scene, the celebrity sunglasses king, Dennis Roberts, tells how he became Elvis' glasses provider. Rock 'n' roll aficionados will relish Bettye Berger's account of her record "Please Convince Me" and its unfortunate, for Bettye anyway, Elvis connection.

One of the Memphis Mafia members who emotionally divides fans, Elvis' new age hairdresser, Larry Geller, offers a touching, if overly dramatic, account of his and Charlie Hodge's visit to the mortuary after Elvis died. Larry's description of what happened as the casket lid closed for the last time is pure Hollywood.

While these "softer" vignettes offer a counterbalance to the colorfully more extreme stories of an implicitly socially challenged minority, not surprisingly it is the latter which dominate "Altered By Elvis" and provide its filmic and lasting power.

There is also an important, grounding moment traversing musical, social and racial boundaries. In an important filmic elsewhere, black American drummer, Don Valentine, perceptively observes:

"His [Elvis's] music speaks for itself"

Verdict: An important, personality driven, disturbingly rich and challenging film which will linger in your thoughts long after the last visual fades from the screen. The cult of celebrity lives in Elvis!

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Visit the Altered By Elvis website

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Read EIN's review of Elvis Through My Eyes (Jimmy Denson)

EIN's review was prepared after viewing a DVD screener of "Altered By Elvis"