The Thing That Couldn't Die

Plot synopsis:
We open with a long shot of the McIntyre Ranch in California. Flavia McIntyre (Peggy Converse), and her ranch hands Boyd (James Anderson) and Mike (Charles Horvath) accompany her niece, Jessica (Carolyn Kearney) as she looks for water. Jessica is a water witch and with her divining stick is searching for a new vein of water for the ranch. Three guests arrive on horseback. Gordon (William Reynolds), Linda (Andra Martin) and Hank (Jeffrey Stone) express disbelief and disapproval at Jessica's superstition and childish behavior. Annoyed, Jessica resumes her search for water and finds something. No sooner have Boyd and Mike begun to dig, Jessica changes her mind and admonishes them not to dig as "there's something evil down there." Flavia overrules her niece and orders her ranch hands to continue to dig. Jessica leaves in a huff, but foretells dire consequences. "I hope a tree falls on you." No sooner has she made this pronouncement, when a bough of a nearby tree snaps off and almost kills Linda. They take Linda back to the guest cabins to recover. She wasn't seriously hurt, in her words, "more frightened than hurt." Jessica expresses remorse, but Linda assures her that it wasn't her fault. Jessica is convinced she caused it. Linda asks her about her gift, and Jessica explains she always had the gift to find things: not just water. Gordon, Hank and Linda continue to disbelieve her, so she directs them to where to find Linda's missing watch. She tells them they will find Linda's watch in a trade rat's nest at the base of the old oak tree near Linda's cabin.Gordon, Hank and Linda head for the tree and after a brief search find Linda's watch, which is still working, and something else. They find an old charm that had been buried hundreds of years before, as the tree roots grew around it. They now begin to believe in Jessica's gift. That evening Gordon apologizes to Jessica. Jessica tells him that the voices that direct her searches can sometimes be evil and are hard to resist. Gordon presents the cleaned charm they found to Jessica as a peace offering. Gordon explains the significance of the design and places it around her neck.Gordon goes up to watch Mike and Boyd dig for what they think is a well. They strike something and Mike finds an old chest. He hauls it out of the hole. Flavia is convinced that it contains gold and orders Mike to break it open. Gordon advises against such action. He explains that the chest may be more valuable than the contents, but only if it is not damaged. A preliminary examination shows a date: 1579 and the spelling and lettering is Old English. He can't read much more, and will need to clean it. He tells Flavia that only one Englishman visited that part of California around that date--Sir Francis Drake. Gordon suggests an expert witness be present and tells Flavia he will go over to Berkeley and get the chemicals and Julian Ash, the president of the Historical Society. Flavia is quite perturbed she'll have to wait to see the contents, but agrees. They take the unopened chest back to the main house.It is clear Boyd is in charge and Mike is a little slow witted. Linda invites Jessica to accompany her and Hank to a dance that evening, but Jessica expresses her reluctance. She is hoping Gordon will ask her. As Mike, Boyd and Aunt Flavia approach the house with the chest, Jessica is overcome with a sense of dread. Gordon informs her that he has to leave shortly, but will be back late. Flavia locks the chest in her sewing room and leaves Mike and Boyd to guard it. Jessica tells Aunt Flavia she doesn't want the chest in the house, and won't stay if it does. Linda invites her to stay in her guest cabin. Flavia retires for the night and Jessica goes over to Linda's cabin. Hank and Linda drive off for the dance. As Jessica is trying on some of Linda's clothes, Boyd does a little peeping.Boyd begins to get designs on the chest and its contents and steals the key from Flavia's purse. He talks Mike into tearing open the chest, but instead of gold Mike finds a dirty, withered head (Robin Hughes) that whispers to him. Meanwhile Boyd heads back over to stare at Jessica on the porch. When Boyd returns to check on Mike, he discovers the chest open and Mike behaving very strangely. Boyd pulls a knife on Mike, but is quickly disarmed by the stronger man and is killed. Mike returns to the sewing room to confer with the head, which tells him to hide Boyd's body and take the head outside. All the commotion wakes Flavia and she screams for Jessica to help her. Flavia and Jessica discover the sewing room door open and the chest empty. Jessica notices blood on the floor. Jessica tells Aunt Flavia to contact the police. Mike approaches the house and holds the head up to the window. It reacts to Jessica's charm. Jessica expresses the feeling of something trying to overpower her. Gordon walks in through the open door, accompanied by Julian Ash (Forrest Lewis). Gordon and Julian clean the chest. Gordon suggests that Jessica try to find the wounded ranch hand with her divining stick. They don't realize Boyd is dead and Mike is possessed by the spirit of Gideon Drew.Jessica sets out on her search for the wounded ranch hand. Mike tells Gideon Drew's head about Jessica's gift to find things. Jessica begins to go into a trance and sees the trial of Gideon Drew some 400 years earlier. The judge (Thomas Browne Henry) sentences Drew to death for Satanism. He further decrees that his head and body be buried separately. During the trial the charm or talisman keeps Gideon's power under control. Jessica wakes from her trance and heads back to the house, and finds Boyd's body in the hole dug earlier. The police arrive as Linda and Hank return from the dance. Gordon takes the police to Boyd's body. He suggests that Mike might be the culprit. Gideon's head realizes Mike's usefulness has come to an end and must transfer his influence and control over to Linda. He makes Mike attack the police with Boyd's knife. The police kill Mike. Linda takes the head back to her cabin and places in on a closet shelf. Linda tries to get the charm from Jessica, but is unsuccessful.Gordon, Julian and Flavia meet the next morning. Gordon tells Flavia that the chest only contained a head, and Julian tells Flavia that he believes the casket with the rest of the body is on the ranch property. He wants to find it and will pay Flavia if they can recover it. Linda joins them and suggests they ask Jessica for help. She knows that for Gideon Drew to return to life he needs his body. Jessica joins them. They ask her help, but she refuses. Julian Ash gets the idea that "the gift" is probably inherited and suggests Flavia give it a try. Jessica is angry and goes upstairs to pack. She intends to take the bus to a cousin's house to stay. But before she can leave, Gordon asks her if he can borrow the charm to have a copy made. Gordon removes it, and without her charm Jessica is now vulnerable to Gideon. Linda presents the head in a hat box to Jessica as a going away gift. Jessica is now possessed and her behavior changes radically. Jessica announces she has changed her mind about leaving and will help find the body. Of course, she finds it. They dig up the casket and return it to the house.Jessica retrieves Gideon's head and joins it to the headless body. Gideon Drew is now whole and can move, breathe, and speak. His first order of business is to sate his thirst for blood. He threatens the assembled cast. Gordon tries shooting him with a gun, but it has no effect. Drew can't decide who to kill first. He settles on Gordon, but Gordon has the talisman and repels him with its power. Gordon tosses the charm into the casket Gideon Drew has fallen back into and they close the lid. The spell is broken, and when they open the casket all they find is a skeleton. Gordon retrieves the charm and places it back around Jessica's neck. We close with a close up of the charm on Jessica's ample chest.

Tags: paranormal

Review:
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!
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ****.
The film has a compelling plot, albeit familiar and simplistic, and the atmosphere and special effects are far more unsettling and spooky that I expected for a camp 50's flick like this.
Jessica is a shy but beautiful young girl with psychic powers who lives on the Californian guest ranch of her aunt.
Jessica feels that the content of the chest is evil, but her aunt and all the guests at the ranch insist on opening it anyway.
The head naturally wants to recover its body, which is buried elsewhere on the premises, in order to continue his evil Satan-worshiping activities.
Furthermore the film contains a couple of admirable footnotes, like for example a link with the famous naval commander Sir Francis Drake, and a reasonably good pacing.
When a group of people farming on their land stumble upon a mysterious crate buried in the ground, the removal of the object causes them to stumble onto the terrifying truth about it's contents when a body-less head starts running around the estate.This was a pretty entertaining effort that has some good things to it that make it feel a lot better than it really should.
The main thing here is the fact that the killer head is the main villain in this one, but rather than have him be the bloodthirsty creature he should be this one has him hypnotize those around him to do his dirty work so he can get his body back, and the film's decision to feature the hypnotized interacting with the unaffected others makes for some creepy scenes they attempt to manipulate them even further unwittingly towards the goal, and it's quite tense and creepy during these scenes.
Also quite creepy are the scenes out in the cemetery where they unearth the crate in the darkness which feel quite like typical Gothic set-pieces that drive the creepiness up some, as well as the finale which generate some rather intense action scenes with the reanimated body running around make for some great thrills.
It does take a while to start up here as the head doesn't get loose until quite late in the film for a quickie of this type, and some of the effects themselves look quite cheap, but the main problem is a rather disjointed storyline that never really makes a lot of sense overall as it careens between several different plot points that are interconnected through quite thin margins, making this somewhat flawed but overall enjoyable.Today's Rating-PG: Violence..
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.
Its lines like this that make Dr. Evil's (Austin Powers) comments about evil petting zoos hilarious.This is one of those movies that will keep you laughing at all the classic horror cliches and poor special effects..
Better than the original 'Night Of The Living Dead'.It's a real shame they don't make films like this on anymore.
I can't say a lot without giving away the premise or the goodies in this film, but if you like classic 'b' horror, then this one is for you..
The Thing That Couldn't Die is a classic mind control movie.
The Thing (a severed head) uses its powers to control several people throughout the film, including two luscious ladies.
Jessica Burns (lovely Carolyn Kearney) is a young woman with strong psychic ability, living with others on her Aunt Flavias' (Peggy Converse) farm.
Alas, what is in the chest is not treasure, but the still living decapitated head of Gideon Drew (Robin Hughes), a 16th Century Satan worshipper.
Drew is able to malevolently control some of the characters, while enlisting them to search for the rest of his body, buried somewhere else on the property.You can really tell that this drive-in movie was done on the cheap, but that in itself is NOT a strike against it.
The sight of Drews' head in the hand of gargantuan, simpleton farmhand Mike (Charles Horvath) is amusing, and the climactic confrontation (which is resolved awfully quickly) is a hoot, as Drew surveys with contempt his determined human opponents.The acting is not great, but it's appropriate for this sort of thing.
William Reynolds, Andra Martin, Jeffrey Stone, Ms. Converse, James Anderson, Mr. Horvath, and Forrest Lewis are all okay, but it's easily Hughes who gives the best performance as the "thing" within this movie.It does kill roughly 70 minutes in painless enough fashion.Six out of 10..
Yes this movie features a gal named Jessica who says everything is evil and she causes trees to land on people too (well she only causes a tree to fall once, but she does say everything is evil).
This movie is about a farm that apparently rents out rooms to people, but offers little else in the way of entertainment.
Jessica can find things with a stick and she finds the head of an evil guy.
The head proceeds to hypnotize everyone it can so it can get to Jessica and use her powers to find stuff to help look for his body.
Not quite as awful as the 2.8 rating suggests but it's still not a good movie let alone a great one.
There are moments certainly, there's a spooky music score, Andra Martin is an appealing enough female lead, Robin Hughes is appropriately menacing and the head effects are okay.
The heads next target is Jessica a young innocent with special powers.
What would that head do?" Well, you create a little history, have people act in goofy ways, make the thing indestructible, and go from there.
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.
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.
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..
There are a handful of odd people --  a money-grubbing spinster, a lunkhead ranch hand, a greedy ranch hand in a Little Joe Cartright hat and jacket, an artist who likes his wine and women, an elderly president of the California Historical Society, an earnest young (male) archeologist, a severed head, and two women (one blond, one brunette) who spend some time sharing a bed.
A lovely female psychic is being used by her aunt to divine water on her ranch, but she instead opens a box of trouble.
I remember watching, "The Thing That Couldn't Die" when I was about nine years of age and it did send shivers up my spine!
"The Thing That Couldn't Die" was, to me, one of the all- time great horror classics of all time!
I remember Robin Hughes role as the Devil worshiper Gideon Drew who stopped at nothing to find a way to rejoin his head with his body so that he could wreck havok on the local townfolk.
However, the treasure chest holds the severed head of a centuries dead satanist named Gideon Drew, whose powers are far stronger than Jessica's.
Will Jessica's powerful fleur de lis, combined with Gordon's love, ward the ancient evil off before it can destroy them all?This isn't a very interesting movie.
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.
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.
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.
THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE is a bad film.
But Jessica can find much more than fresh spring water with that divining rod  buried "tray-shure," lost jewelry, dead bodies, even a talisman that will keep her from dressing like a slut and raising drinks with a phony beat and a Suzanne Pleshette look-alike while hypnotized by a disembodied head.
Seems some guy from the 1600's lost his head and is now trying to get his headless body back by using unsuspecting members of the farm who fall under his mumbling powers.
The silly storya very old head searching for its bodyis the only thing that may turn people off.The scene is an isolated guest ranch in California, where various beautiful people are spending a relaxing holiday, accompanied by the ranch's matronly owner, her slimy ranch foreman, and a dim-witted hired hand.
Naturally, the dopey hired hand opens the box, and there's a 400-year-old disembodied head of an evil sorcerer (Robin Hughes) inside.
After 400 years in a box, The Head only gets reunited with its body for about 60 seconds.
The acting is really quite good, particularly by the dumb hired hand (Charles Horvath) and The Head himself (Robin Hughes).
One film in particular is "The Thing That Couldn't Die." Jessica has a psychic skill that allows her to find things.
One thing that she finds is a box that contains the head of Gideon Drew.
As many moviegoers can figure out, the head is STILL alive, and wants Jessica to find his body.
Seems that Drew was a devil worshiper and was beheaded, his body buried separately from his head.The film has some interesting points, but it was strictly made for drive-in audiences: enough to keep the little ones quiet, and enough to push the teens into the back seat.
The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958) *Spoiler/plot- Devil worshiper head in box killed by Sir Francis Drake in northern California.
Looks for his body in present day time.*Special Stars- William Reynolds, Andra Martin, Jeffrey Stone, Carolyn Kearney, Peggy Converse, Robin Hughes, James Anderson, Charles HOrvath, Forest Lewis.*Theme- Evil can effect matters after death.*Trivia/location/goofs- Opening film credits re-used the music from the famous sci-fi film, 'This island Earth'.
This is the living head of a 16th century devil worshiper named Gideon Drew(Robin Hughes).
All if these people could have died, and I would have been cheering by the end of the movie, instead of shaking my head in disgust.
The 'tray-sure chest' turns out to contain a severed head ,which takes over Mike and forces him to run around carrying by the hair.
It wants the psychic girl to find its body, which had been buried in another chest somewhere on the property.
Finally, the head gets his wish, and takes over the psychic chick so that she can lead the rest of the idiots on the ranch to the other casket.
SO the movie trails off, and the evil guy doesn't murder ANY of the annoying characters, even though they're all in the room with him!
Boyd, the sleazy ranch hand is supposed to be unlikable and he does a good job, as does the big, Lenny like guy as a well meaning , but simple character.
The drunken artist is understandably P.O.'d at the way his model/fiancée Linda is acting.The characters and performances that really stand out for me are Andra Martin as Linda, doing a very good job as the nice model, who turns into a really sensuously sinister character, under the influence of sorceror Gideon Drew.
Considering he spends most of the movie as a disembodied head, Robin Hughes is very good as the undead magician.Once he's back in one piece, he delivers some effectively menacing lines quite well.The aforementioned are probably the best performances, but the third memorable one stands out as being one of the most presumably unintentionally dislikable characters in a movie.
Other posters have referred to her "dental drill voice" and that they hoped the bad guy would get her before the picture was over, or a tree would fall on her, and I concur.Ever since one poster referred to " the closet gay leading man", I've been forced to look at the movie differently.
As an adult, I couldn't stop laughing.I have not had the pleasure of watching this movie via MST3K.
I was wrong.The movie has some very good elements; a water-divining mystic, a beatnik painter, couple of idiot ranch hands, an elderly history buff, and an "evil wind." Um...I mean...evil head.
An evil head which will, as soon as the systematic hypnotism of each and every one present is complete, be looking for its evil body.The whole story takes place on an evil "ranch" which apparently neither grows crops, nor raises evil livestock.As everything is declared by their resident mystic to be "evil," you either roll your eyes horribly, or laugh til your sides split, depending on your mood.
If you're looking for a good story line, this movie has that.
Instead of the treasure her aunt is hoping for, the chest contains the head of Gideon Drew, a devil worshiper who was beheaded by Sir Francis Drake.
Telepathically controlling the hired-hand who opened the chest, Drew's head goes on a murderous spree in search of the rest of his body  also buried on Jessica's aunt's farm.
While The Thing That Couldn't Die isn't what I would call a "good" movie, it does have a few things going for it.
Also, The Thing That Couldn't Die may have been a bit too ambitious for its own good.
Put this in the hands of a writer like Theodore Sturgeon or (if you prefer British perspective) Robert Bloch, or the guy who wrote "Day Of The Triffids", and you might have had a nasty, unsettling little spook story that was the best thing in an book anthology of horror and suspense stories.However, someone chose to tell this story as a feature length movie, and a cheap, 2nd rate at that, and so most of the potential is wasted.
They did do a good job with the head of the bad guy when he is unearthed, at least for back then when the special effects were suspect most of the time.