The Thing That Couldn't Die

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.

Very entertaining. A girl with supernatural gifts feels something "Evil" while witching for water. Despite her warnings, her Aunt digs up an old chest, which turns out to contain the severed noggin of a sorceror. He starts controlling people in a quest for his body. They don't make 'em like this anymore. FX are pretty good, a highly enjoyable film.

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.

On a California farm, folks uncover the served head of an evil colonial man which begins to possess people.

A rather inventive story makes this old B film a stand out from the other monster flicks of its day. Director Will Cowan gives this film some compact direction, making a nicely dark atmosphere for the movie, even creating some occasional eeriness and a few good shocks along the way. The music score for this film is the same spooky score used for the sci-fi classic This Island Earth (1955). The cast is pretty good, Hughes is especially good as the films non-deceased villain. Not a bad watch for those looking for a B flick that's a little different from the average rubber-monster movie.

** 1/2 out of ****

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!