Watch The Thing That Couldn't Die For Free

Purely Joyful Movie!

Please don't spend money on this.

hyped garbage

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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. Unfortunately that is pretty much it for the halfway decent moments. The rest of the effects are substandard at best, and the other production values don't fare that much better with spare settings and barely competent photography. The less said about the dialogue the better, a lot of it was very stilted and often difficult to understand in terms of clarity. There is a campiness to the goings on and to the rather thin and dully paced story. And sadly what was meant as a horror-thriller is lacking in any thrills or scares, it's all predictable, dull and unintentionally funny. Martin and Hughes are the only decent actors here too, the rest are terrible, the worst offenders being Carolyn Kearney who embarrassingly overacts and Peggy Converse who is just as obnoxious with a voice that really grates on the ears. Overall, pretty bad but not completely terrible, there's worse out there. 4/10 Bethany Cox

I expect the movie was made for about a buck-eighty. There's basically one outdoor farm anchoring the action, along with a few tacky exterior forest sets. Then too, I wonder if Robin Hughes' (Gideon) salary was discounted since only his head is used. Still, the acting is better than expected for a Z-production, especially Kearney (Jessica). Okay, the premise is really wacky, even for a drive-in special. 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. You keep wondering who will be next. My advice is to do what I did back in '58— keep a 6-pack handy or maybe a 12-pack if you've got an aversion to guys who can't keep their head on straight.

The main problem with this movie has been pointed out already by other viewers: not the low budget, or the recycled music, which is pretty well used, or the basic story, etc, but that many of the characters are pretty annoying. Jessica, the sweet young thing with the psychic gift, is just too bland to be much of a real heroine, and the hero does very little. 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. Aunt Flavia as written is certainly not very appealing, but the actress portraying her makes her so obnoxious that she nearly sinks the picture. 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. A couple of posters have mentioned a vaguely lesbian subtext to some scenes involving Linda and Jessica, and I have to admit, seeing the two good looking ladies sharing a bed was kind of exciting, but any possible undertones of that nature would have to have been pretty well hidden for a Fifties movie.It certainly isn't a good movie by most standards, but it does have a kind of creepy atmosphere that works fairly well. I think it's worth seeing once, any way.

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!