The Thing That Couldn't Die

Jessica Burns (lovely Carolyn Kearney) is a young woman with strong psychic ability, living with others on her Aunt Flavias' (Peggy Converse) farm. One day, her dowsing rod leads her to a buried treasure chest. 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. Unfortunately, the story (written by David Duncan) is kind of dull, with too much emphasis placed on the melodrama between most of our cast. Produced and directed by Will Cowan (his final feature film), it's never as schlocky, creepy, or as much FUN as one might like it to be. That's not to say, of course, that it doesn't have its moments. 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. Kearney is a little much when she's required to play the indignant, virtuous girl; she's more fun when her innocence is corrupted by Drews' influence. 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.