The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958) - A Fuller Appreciation

 

I briefly wrote about The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958) a while ago and how evocative both the trailer and poster were for this B-movie,which I had never seen in full.  Well, I have finally caught up with the film - all sixty nine minutes of it - and have to say that it is surprisingly decent.  Even if it doesn't quite live up to the promise of the trailer and poster.  To recap, the plot involves the living severed head of a man executed for witchcraft by Sir Francis Drake four hundred years ago being dug up on a modern day ranch, after which it proceeds to possess various people as it attempts to find its headless body. It's main target is a young girl with diving powers who, the believes, will be able to locate the missing body.  Obviously, it can't get to her first - there wouldn't be much of a plot if it did - so, instead, works its way through various other cast members, starting with the ranch owner's simpleton ranch hand.  The scenes of this hulking character carrying the head by its hair, lifting it up to peer through windows and spy on its potential victims are surprisingly effective.  Indeed, the disembodied head makes for a surprisingly effective 'monster', eerily mouthing soundless commands to its cohorts, (without a body and lungs, it can't breath and therefore vocalise), when it isn't lurking inside a hat box.  Much credit here has to go to British actor Robin Hughes - who was usually to be found in small (often uncredited) supporting roles in films and on TV - who manages, using only his blazing stare, to evoke a real sense of evil surrounding the head.  He finally gets to utter a few lines at the climax, after head and body are briefly re-united, at which point, of course, the character becomes far less frightening, as he is now just an archaically dressed dude spouting the usual threats of revenge, etc.

Part of Universal's post war cycle of horror and science fiction B-movies and shot in two weeks, The Thing That Couldn't Die is largely studio-bound, utilising a ranch set that had seen service in countless westerns. But director Will Cowan uses this to good effect, using the minimalist locations to give the film a claustrophobic feel, with the characters effectively trapped within the its boundaries.  The black and white photography and sheer artificiality of the exterior scenes, adds to the air of late-night creepiness that permeates the film, aided by a borrowed musical score from Universal's library, (including part of the electronic score from This Island Earth).  Interestingly, this was the only horror film that Cowans, whose specialty seemed to be musical shorts, made.  In fact, it appears to be his last directing and producing credit.  The script, by science fiction author David Duncan - who scripted a number of Universal's fifties B-movie cycle, as well as more prestigious film's like The Time Machine (1960) - provides slightly less clunky dialogue than usual for B pictures of the era, while keeping the plot clear and straightforward.  The script's main weakness lies in its use of the deus ex machina of a 'magic amulet' that not only protects the wearer from the head's hypnotic powers, (much as a crucifix protects the wearer from a vampire), that you just know is gong to be used as a 'get out of jail free' card at the movie's climax.   Overall, the film benefits from the Universal 'house style', evident in all of their B-movies - which gives the film a slick look and feel that belies its small budget.  While I'm not making a case for The Thing That Couldn't Die being some kind of lost horror classic, but it is a well made B-movie that succeeds in making something genuinely creepy from what is, on the face of it, a pretty ludicrous story concept.  The Thing That Couldn't Die was originally released in the US as the supporting feature to Hammer's Dracula (1958).