A Chest, a Head- is This an Anatomy Lesson?! No, it’s "The Thing That Couldn't Die"- Tonight!

Tonight, on MeTV – if you toss a coin, we’re calling heads-because our menace- a disembodied head that has survived for centuries- is unearthed and uses its amazing mental powers to control others in order to conqueror the modern world- all orchestrated by " The Thing That Couldn’t Die”!

We begin with someone else with amazing powers- young Jessica, a resident of her aunt Flavia's ranch, who is using a divining rod to locate some much-needed water for the spread. Rumor has it that she can actually find much more than water and can use her psychic gifts to find other things. Witnessing Jessica at work are vacationing ranch visitors Gordon, Linda, and her artist boyfriend Hank-all skeptical observers. Jessica finds herself suddenly drawn to a location that has nothing to do with water- but a place where she senses “something evil” is buried in the ground! Ignoring her niece’s words, Flavia wants the ranch hands to dig there and see what might be there- especially if it has value. Jessica then proves her ability is for real by sending Linda to the exact location of a watch she lost- where they also find a strange ancient necklace that Gordon thinks Jessica should have.

The ranch hands spend much of the night digging and finally uncover something! It appears to be a centuries-old chest, and Flavia is beside herself, hoping it contains vast riches. However, Gordon, remembering Jessica’s warning that it could be “something evil”, cautions her NOT to open the chest -until further research can be done. He heads out to bring back an archaeologist who might help to determine the chest's worth- and if it can be opened without diminishing its value.

Flavia enlists her ranch hands, shifty Boyd and slow-witted Big Mike, to stand guard over the chest in her house. This is not the best move, since Boyd has his own greedy agenda. Without Flavia’s knowledge, he has Big Mike use his formidable strength to open the chest. His plan -to possibly skim off whatever of value might be inside- then seal the chest back up, so no one knows it was opened- or that anything of value was originally inside! While Mike continues the job Boyd has assigned him to, Boyd heads out for a nice evening of playing Peeping Tom (or Boyd) at Jessica's window.

Mike muscles open the chest, only to discover it contains a severed head! Not only is it alive, but it has strong mental powers, which it uses to easily take control of the slow-witted ranch hand!

We learn that the head is actually that of an evil sailor who was beheaded for sorcery 400 years ago. His demeanor has not changed over the many years, as he begins using his mental grip to bring on trouble and terror. He concludes that Jessica's own formidable mental skills are possibly the only way for him to find the body his head was once attached to- and, should he find it and be made whole again- he'd be so dangerously powerful that nothing could stop him!

There is, however, one thing stopping him from controlling the girl- that necklace that Gordon gave to Jessica, which turns out to actually be protection against his evil! The dastardly living head sets out to mind-control additional victims to help him handle Jessica and hopefully make her his pawn- in his quest to become master of this new world!

This is yet another of the Saturday afternoon matinee / drive-in type movies many viewers have been asking for- and we are happy to bring it back, since we have not run it for a while. You’ll get glimpses of our old set, and some dated references, as we give some background on the cast, and add to the entertainment with our own encounter with the severed head, some MeTV western spin-offs it could inspire, and a special segment that gets a little help from the Sven Squad and one of our friends at CBS’ “Price is Right”. You’ll get some musical fun, see a new product you might want to stick with, and some bonus material- including one of our earlier visits with an author and wrestling Hall of Famer- our friend Mick Foley- and a couple sports-related Sven appearances from the past. The vintage parts of our show, and the movie, are in SD with the best print of the film available. We try to avoid films that are not remastered for digital TV- but are making an exception for the fans who have steadfastly requested this movie.

"The Thing That Couldn't Die" comes to life tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or please check for the time we run in your area in your local listings or at www.metv.com Live commenting and Tweeting during the show will again take place on Twitter/X and Bluesky-and MeTV reminds you to use the hashtag #svengoolie on your posts on both platforms! This morning, Chicago area viewers get the famed Bram Stoker tale as interpreted by Jack Palance in “Dan Curtis’ Dracula" at 11 am on our main local station, WCIU, The U!

We’ve been notified that voting is now open for this year’s Rondo Awards. The Rondos, named for horror star Rondo Hatton, were established in 2002, and are the only classic horror awards, decided by the fans- and only the fans. Once again, I am honored to be nominated in the ever-growing category of “Favorite Horror Host”-category 21. As always, please vote for whoever is your true favorite. You can vote in as many -or as few- categories as you like. The voting ends at midnight on April 20. Be sure you follow all the directions and send in one ballot only- or your votes will not be counted! For the information and complete ballot, go to: rondoaward.com

Meanwhile, tonight- “head” over to MeTV- for some nastiness from a supernatural noggin!