The Thing That Couldn't Die

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.

This 1950's B-flick falls under the "it's so bad that it's good" movie category.

I watched this picture numerous times as a kid on t.v. and hadn't seen it in years when I lucked out and caught it on American Movie Classics a few years back.

Time had not changed the cheesiness of the plot, or the terrible acting by most of the lead actors, but who cares? This movie was made in the 1950's, when cheesy horror and sci-fi movies were all the rage.

The plot revolves around a psychic young woman, Jessica, (portrayed by Carolyn Kearney, who wildly over acts in every scene she's in) who discovers an ancient chest buried on her Aunt's ranch. The chest contains the severed head of Gideon Drew (Robin Hughes), who was put to death several centuries earlier for satanism. Drew wants his head to be reunited with his body, and hey, who can blame him? There are several hilarious scenes of Drew's head being carried all over the ranch by the ranch's imbecile ranch hand Mike, as well as the head being hid in a hat box, etc. Can you stand it? They just don't make movies like this anymore.

I love everything about this movie, from start to finish! It's not scary, just fun.

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 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!

Jessica (Carolyn Kearney) has the power of divination, the young woman using a dowsing rod to locate water and long lost objects, such as the still-living severed head of Gideon Drew (Robin Hughes), a man executed for sorcery 400 years earlier. Unearthed, the head uses its 'evil eye' to control people to try and find its missing body.

To be honest, The Thing That Couldn't Die is a fairly bad film, too uneventful and sluggish for the most part to be an effective horror. That said, the basic premise is wonderfully inventive and suitably ghoulish, and those scenes that do feature the severed head, silently mouthing his commands, are actually very creepy. Kearney is also a good reason to watch the film - she's very appealing and it's a wonder why I haven't sought out more of her work (so far, the only other thing I've seen her in has been an episode of The Twilight Zone).

The head is finally reunited with its body, but, within minutes, the film ends, Gideon Drew quickly reduced to a pile of bones by an ancient amulet. Just as it was getting good...

4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.