I wonder if Universal is planning a DVD release for this title (and "Cult of the Cobra","The Leech Woman" and "Curse of the Undead") since we finally got (albeit via BestBuy) "Ultimate Sci-Fi Classics Collection" with titles long overdue on DVD..."The Thing that couldn't die" may not be a very good movie,but t's fun to watch and original for its time...and has never been released to home video , except bootleg copies via E-Bay...
Well,it is now October 2007 and "Thing that couldn't die" and "Curse of the Undead" are the only Universal '50s horror classics unreleased on DVD. We finally got Classic Sci Fi Collection Volume 2 with other great titles...Will we have to wait a whole year for these two remaining '50s horror movies to be released on DVD?!
Come on,Universal Home Video guys! How about a Double Feature with both titles ASAP? And PLEASE...give it main distribution this time! Why a BestBuy exclusive? Do you know how difficult (and expensive) it was to get Sci Fi Vol 1 & 2 from Argentina (where I'm -unfortunately- living nowadays?)
Once again, Oct.2008 and no legal DVD of this movie available...Folks at Universal "don't have plans to release it anytime soon", and the bootleg DVD I purchased through ebay has jumps, cuts and the image is so dark that some scenes are nearly impossible to watch...I wonder why Universal is so disrespectful towards sci fi and horror classics (for example releasing most of 50's sci fi classics at 1:33.1 instead of the original aspect ratios or in this case , not releasing some titles at all ) when it has always been widely known and famous for them...
shareGood points. I'm still waiting for this as well as others from the same period like "Man Without A Body", "The Unknown Terror" from 1957...
shareThis DVD is available through monstersinmotion.com. Just click on "Best Sellers" and scroll through the pages. You will find it there. Not a bad copy, either. Enjoy.
shareI got a copy from Monsters in Motion,and two other copies from unknown sellers on Ebay...all of them were obviously made from pretty dark and not very good prints (the movie being very dark itself at times). I made a DVD-R copy of an old VHS I had recorded from cable TV and it looks better than all the ones I purchased. However,I'm still hoping Universal will deign to give us Universal Horror Classic Movie Archive Volume 2 or something similasr,in which both this movie and "Curse of the Undead" are included in remastered prints...and hoping they don't follow Warner's path, by churning out second rate DVD-Rs of interesting classic titles, at the price of a first rate DVD edition ("From hell it came","This woman is dangerous" and lots of others).
shareNo, the print available from monstersinmotion is definitely not DVD quality, but I sometimes like old, black and white movies to have a less than stellar quality, with all the grain and film noise. They remind me of staying up late on the weekends as a kid in the 60s to watch the latest creature feature. I guess it's a matter of taste.
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I know what you mean about watching movies like that and being reminded of the old days on TV. I have the same copy of this one that most have: missing frames, reel change markers, etc. But the creepiness of a few scenes with the head are pretty effective anyway and the scene where they open the coffin is great. Of course it's all preposterous, but I'd love to have a good copy.
Well, it's now May 2011 and this film is still nowhere to be found on DVD. Just thought I'd remind everybody.
sharePlease clarify. What's preposterous, the plot, or having a good copy?
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In 2004 I bought from the UK, several hard to get movies as 16MM TV prints and this movie was one of them. The quality and gamma is what you would expect from the 1950's without the snow and blur of VHS recorded off TV. There is a scratch for a short period at the fireplace scene but it doesn't ruin it and nothing was ever cut for commercials. I used an RCA TP66 studio projector and a digital pick-up camera to record directly to DVD-R, ripped it to the computer to edit out the leaders and return to true black & white and added a full menu. I "DON'T" offer titles as a living but if anyone is interested I can make screen caps available. In the same shipment came Back From the Dead (1957), Man Who Turned to Stone (1957), Port Sinister (1953),The Unknown terror (1957) and Green-Eyed Blonde (1957).
shareTurner Classics ran an okay print this morning.
I had to tweak it a little with a sharpness filter then put it to DVD myself with full motion menus and the trailer
Well,it is now February 2014 and I purchased my copy of Universal Vault/Amazon's MOD DVD-R of this long-awaited movie. I'm happy to finally have an original release of this horror movie classic I happen to love. On the downside, even though the Price is $19.98, the print seems to be the exact one that has been airing since the 1960s on TV and cable, no remastering at all, and extremely blurry even by Universal DVD-R standards (I own several of Universal/TCM and Universal/Amazon exclusive releases of,for instance "Female on the Beach","Woman in Hiding" and "Family Honeymoon" and the quality of all those films is excellent). Also,the DVD-R contains the Fullscreen version ,not the correct 1.85:1 aspect ratio one, which further proves the "old print slapped onto disc to make a quick buck" argument. The least Universal could do if they want to charge $20 for a movie classic is offer a decent quality print, especially considering this particular movie had never before been released on any media and many horror movie buffs like myself have been waiting years (in my case decades) to own it on a better original reléase.
shareI just watched my Amazon DVD-R version. I can't say it looked better or worse than when I last saw it. Of course, it's probably forty years seen I've seen it . And it was totally worth the money, although it wasn't as creepy as I remember it, it still had some wicked moments
shareI don't know about the quality but I see it's available via DVD Planet.
http://www.dvdplanet.com/buy/dvd/thing-that-couldnt-die_3906044
-Doug
I agree with your comments about the Universal/Amazon DVD-R release of this film. Substandard quality, fullscreen, blurry image... I think you're absolutely right. This release has "TV print" written all over it. If you watch it carefully,it even has some interlacing problems thrown in for good(bad) measure... Tsk tsk Universal folks... you can charge top dollar for a crappy DVD-R but least you could do is REMASTER the movie to look its best. BTW, "Female on the beach" may look a lot better, but it is Fullscreen and therefore, a TV print slapped onto DVD-R as well.
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