The Thing That Couldn't Die

Yes,the movie is not a piece of art but the first time I watched it I was 10 years old,my parents were out and I stayed home with my two brothers.It was May 1970(I know that because I found a note about the cycle of horror movies that one network had).It's one of the most vivid memories I have with the guys.We ended all in one bed and covered up to the head! Our very first horror movie! We kept talking about it for years and laughing about the moment.Those were horror movies.Nowadays horror movies are always the same.Or was it better when we were kids enjoying without analyzing the plot and the cast and the dialogs? Most sure it was that.But for me this is a great movie!

I saw this movie when I was 13 years old. From the perspective of a young teen-ager the movie made a lasting impression (along with "The Tingler" as two of the best horror movies I've seen (I'm now 56). The performance of Robin Hughes as the beheaded devil worshipper is compelling and downright scary - particularly when he stares at his quarry to capture them in his spell. The back & white film also establishes the feeling of cruelty of late 1500's justice..brought to the 20th century in the form of this brooding, evil headless character hell-bent to "get even" with humanity. I really want to see this movie again now that I'm an old guy. It has a "feel" that is uncomfortable, scary, musty, steeped in puritanical blindness, and antiquity.

I love this movie. Even though I rated it a "4", that's because the acting, the plot and the budget were all slated to the "B" universe even before this movie was released. But that's OK! It is an entertaining film that has a lot to offer!

I remember what Leonard Maltin said about "Plan 9 From Outer Space": a film so bad that it's great! Lacking the UFO - alien plot, The Thing the Couldn't Die relies on the supernatural (divination, a buried head looking for it's body, hypnosis, etc) to tell it's story. The acting is stilted, the camera work second class and the settings are limited, but boy! what a movie! This film is available in the bootleg market. If you find a copy, buy it!

The Thing That Couldn't Die takes place on the California coast several centuries apart. The film concerns Satan worship and what Sir Francis Drake did about it on his round the world voyage which some have said made him the first European to see the coast of California.

Where today Andra Martin resides on Aunt Peggy Converse's ranch with plans to marry boyfriend William Reynolds. She's a girl with psychic gifts and feels something evil on the ranch.

The evil is a head and body buried in separate places some 300 years earlier by Sir Francis Drake who discovered one of his crew Robin Hughes in league with the Devil and worshiping him on the ship. Besides being a daring sailor and privateer without peer, Sir Francis Drake was a thoroughgoing Protestant and champion of the Reformation. He has Hughes executed by decapitation and as they do in these movies say if head and body are joined Hughes will rise again and lead the forces of darkness.

Well the skull is found and the head of Hughes is intact and forcing several people on the ranch to his will once they see him. Two deaths occur before Good does triumph over Evil.

This is a decent horror film although the Seventies spawned a slew devil worship films and compared to those bloody things this one is mild. But the atmosphere created is good and murky. I only wish Robin Hughes had a bit more to do. His character was a rich one and I'll bet that since this film only runs 69 minutes a lot of him was left on the cutting room floor.

Fans of the spooky horror genre will like The Thing That Couldn't Die.

Pretty scary to me when I saw it as a kid, and then I thought it was quite interesting when seen on AMC (yes, on AMC) a couple of years ago. The premise is a good one, disembodied living head of centuries old warlock is dug up and exerts mind control over all, while looking for it's body. It has quite a nice, sudden ending that reminded me of Hitchcock (not in style, only in the fact that it ended rather unexpectedly - for an example, see Family Plot again) but with a neat anticlimax, one that predates the typical anticlimax of modern fright films. I won't spoil it by telling it, but if you can see this film and remember that it was made in 1958, then you'll enjoy it. If your idea of what's scary is Alien, or anything after that, then forget it, you'll probably be bored or laugh inappropriately. Not that Alien isn't scary, but that's a whole different generation of horror.