Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Seven years ago, Rob Kemp had THE cult hit of the Edinburgh Fringe with The Elvis Dead, a late-night romp in which he replayed The Evil Dead 2 to a soundtrack of rewritten Elvis hits. 

At the end, he joked that his next project would be Beatlesjuice, setting the Tim Burton horror-comedy to the tunes of the Fab Four. And here, after much delay, we are. 

And he hasn't much messed with a winning formula of doing what it says on the tin. He's gone above and beyond in the costume, donning whiteface and the snazzy black and white striped suit of Michael Keaton’s original undead prankster, and in creating a few low-budget special effects, such as the sandworm – and a shrinking head illusion that’s worth the admission alone.

Kemp positively revels in the low-budget DIY nature of the project. If something’s slightly shambolic, well what do you expect? It’s a man in a barely disguised hotel meeting room recreating a 38-year-old film (whose own SFX were decidedly shonky),

There’s some very good-natured audience participation beyond the expected singalongs to familiar tunes. But Kemp makes no apologies for plumping for a few unfamiliar numbers – ‘the Ringo ones’ – if it fits the mood. 

Of some of the more familiar tracks, Can’t Buy Me Love becomes Worm From Above to warn of alien predators, the protagonists’ sad demise is shoehorned into Penny Lane… and the banana boat song Day-O gets shoved kicking and screaming into the melody of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

The idea has its limits, and Kemp cannot really ride the momentum of The Elvis Dead after so long. But he has a tremendous sense of daft fun, recognising how ludicrous this all is and performing with positivity and joy. He puts the rather try-hard West End production of Beetlejuice to shame.

And, yes, he has got an idea for his next project: The Thing White Duke. Sign me up for 2034.

Review date: 21 Aug 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Hoots @ Apex