The Thing That Couldn't Die

1958 "The grave can't hold it ...nothing human can stop it!"
4.1| 1h9m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 27 June 1958 Released
Producted By: Universal International Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A 400 year old disembodied head hypnotizes a female psychic, who recovered it using a dowsing rod, to search for the rest of its body.

Genre

Horror

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Director

Will Cowan

Production Companies

Universal International Pictures

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The Thing That Couldn't Die Audience Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Listonixio Fresh and Exciting
Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
bkoganbing 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.
Michael_Elliott The Thing That COuldn't Die (1958)* 1/2 (out of 4) Laughably bad horror film from Universal about a group of people who find a mysterious case buried underneath an old tree. A teenage Jessica (Carolyn Kearney) has the ability to see the future and she warns her friends not to open the thing so naturally they do it anyway. Inside just so happens to be the decapitated head of a devil worshiper who was killed by Sir Francis Drake. THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE has the reputation of being one of the studio's worst films and I'm not going to defend it too much, although I still think there are worse out there. With that said, there's no doubt that this film is pretty awful at times but thankfully it gets bad enough to where you can actually just sit back and laugh at it. Poor Kearney is the cause of many laughs because her acting is just so bad that you can't help but feel bad for her. Even worse is some of the dialogue she's given to say and just check out the scene where she has a breakdown about "evil" things and then starts screaming how she wants people to die before making a tree fall on a woman. Say what? This entire sequence perfectly shows what's wrong with this movie but it made me laugh. The actual "monster" is just the decapitated head being carried around by a variety of people who then murder for it. This certainly isn't scary and the "effect" is only mildly entertaining. Outside of Kearney, the cast for the most part is decent, although no one really jumps off the screen. Charles Horvath plays a large, slow brute and it's so spot-on for Lon Chaney, Jr. that you have to wonder why the studio just didn't go out and get the real thing. THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE is a bad film. There's no question about that but I think most will at least be able to laugh at it.
yardbirdsraveup 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!
Escarpe I saw this when I was watching an MST3K marathon, and even though it's prolly one of the better MST3K's their riffing couldn't disguise the fact that the film did have a great air or menace. The plot is surprisingly coherent and the performances, well some of them are performances rather than "look ma i'm in a movie". The story goes like this, idiot city slickers are present when idiot hicks dig up box, box is said to contain pure evil, it does! Idiot hicks can't resist opening box because any buried box to them means treasure, or cookies, or treasure. Box contains evil head, on the lookout for evil body. Idiot hicks are easily seduced by evil head and do it's evil bidding. Evil head tries to seduce beautiful Idoit hickette because she is psychic and hot. (now would be a good time for getting head joke, but I'm not going there). In a showdown between the forces of good and evil, evil head reveals himself to be none-other than someone from 400 years ago you've never heard of. Needless to say it all ends in tears. However The film does have pacing and suspense and the characters do things you wouldn't expect them to do for a 1950's film. All in all it's one of those films that if it's late, you can't sleep, and it's on, is well worth watching, from a time where atmosphere was more important that it is today.