Universal Horror for 2009.............. (1 Viewer)

[Michael Elliott]

I'm sure Criterion is too "up there" to release some of the lesser known stuff. I'm sure they'd go for ISLAND OF LOST SOULS or perhaps THE LAST WARNING but I doubt Universal would want to let go of SOULS even though it's still a mystery as to why it hasn't already been released.

 

[John Morgan]

To these early Paramounts, I would add:
MENACE
and
THE WITCHING HOUR

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Oh, Criterion has released what we could consider "lesser known stuff" in the past, I'd say. Though I like the following films -- FIEND WITHOUT A FACE, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD, THE HAUNTED STRANGLER, ATOMIC SUBMARINE, FIRST MAN INTO SPACE, BLOOD FOR DRACULA and FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN aren't actually "popular top tier titles" either...

 

[Michael Elliott]

ISLAND has been shown in primetime on Turner Classic Movies a couple times over the past two years so new viewers would have seen it and would consider buying it.

A lot of the remaining Universal titles run anywhere from 60-70 minutes so it would have to be something special for me to even want Criterion to do a release due to the higher prices. Personally I hope the Best Buy thing continues or at least releases like those. Five or six films on two or three discs is good enough even without the extras. SON OF FRANKENSTEIN certainly deserves a SE as does BRIDE but I'm sure they'll be released at some point.

 

[Danny Burk]

Universal has no rights to OLD DARK HOUSE (story rights lapsed in 1957), so there isn't going to be anything coming from them.

I *do* agree that the many other titles listed above, particularly the Paramounts, would make a wonderful Universal set!

 

[cineMANIAC]

A quick note about the licensing issue...Universal did, or does, license movies out - they let Anchor Bay release some stuff in the early days of DVD. I'm hoping they open their vaults again and let someone release Phantasm II

 

[juda]

aha this looks awesome

 

[Michael Elliott]

Halloween Purchasing Guide July-October 2009 - 6/8/2009 - Video Business

Apparently Universal are releasing 40+ films as part of a "Fall of Fear" promotion but not all of them will be new to DVD releases. Here are some of the titles confirmed for a 9/15 release date:

John Carpenter Master of Fear Collection UNIVERSAL prebook 7-28; DVD $19.98 Horror: Includes The Thing, They Live, Prince of Darkness and Village of the Damned.

Phantasm II UNIVERSAL prebook 7-28; DVD $19.98 Horror: The Tall Man is back with a vengeance in Phantasm II, available on DVD for the first time.

The Wes Craven Horror Collection UNIVERSAL prebook 7-28; DVD $19.98 Horror: Includes The Serpent and the Rainbow, Shocker and The People Under the Stairs.

The Wolf Man (1941) Special Edition UNIVERSAL prebook 7-28; DVD $26.98 Horror: The original 1941 version of The Wolf Man starring Lon Chaney Jr. is being released as part of the Universal Legacy Series.

 

[IshantNidhi]

Any rumors, grumblings, screams or is all quiet on the Universal front?

 

[Nebiroth]

So most of those 40 are re-releases in new windows dressing?

Who'd have thought it...

 

[cineMANIAC]

I would venture to say that Universal has the Classic Monsters series satisfactorily covered as there have been numerous incarnations of those movies released to DVD up to this point. I'm more of a fan of contemporary stuff thus I would like to see more of movies like Death Becomes Her, Iceman, They Live, etc, get proper upgrades, since rehashes are all we're getting these days. I'm sort of hoping that Rob Zombie's H2 does well at the box office - something which may spur Universal to revisit Halloweens II and III with the special editions that they deserve.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Well, I'm more of a fan of the older stuff, so I wouldn't necessarily agree with you that the 30s thru 50s are satisfactorily covered. There are still a good amount of titles in the "Classic Horror Series" which made it to VHS but have never made it to DVD. This includes not only Universal's old horror titles, but things they own by Paramount, like ISLAND OF LOST SOULS and MURDERS IN THE ZOO. And there are also titles that have never made it to home video in ANY format!

I like DEATH BECOMES HER so I'd like to see a better upgraded DVD (well - make that a Blu-ray, actually), but I think we've already had different DVDs of HALLOWEEN II and III. In the grand scheme of things I think it's more important to release stuff that has NEVER been released on disc so far.

 

[ahollis]

Just looking as the titles listed in this forum anyone can tell that Universal still has many many 30's and 40's movies hidden. But, yes the Classic Monster series has been done. I also suspect that any of the films that are not new to DVD are just repackaged with the same transfer and extras (if any). There are just too many titles for Universal to re-master all of them.

Since The Univinted was not announced nor Island of Lost Souls i guess they will not be included. Or Universal publicity is so off the mark they do not think those titles are important to list.

On the other hand. Universal must be reading this to come up with something, perhaps we actually gave them the idea. I know that Phantasm II has been on a lot of peoples must have list so I am very happy for them and this piece of good news.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I should also add that while the Classic Monsters have largely been done already, they have been issued on those shoddy DVD-18 dual discs in the old green-boxed "Legacy Collections". Though I have gone on record as saying I prefer "never before released" titles, I think that now that the studio has abandoned the tricky DVD-18 format, it would be nice to be able to get the Classic Monsters re-done on proper DVD-9s. This is especially the case for THE BELA LUGOSI COLLECTION (and also the HAMMER COLLECTION) which really had a lot of reports of troublsome discs. I myself had problems with these.

I wouldn't mind an exhaustive and all-inclusive deluxe horror set including all the monster stuff, sort of like what Universal did with re-releasing the Abbott and Costello collection recently. And just like Universal added IT AIN'T HAY to the A&C series to make it unique, they could add some of the as-yet-unissued horror oldies to this "Complete Horror Collection".

 

[Eric Peterson]

Don't inlcude me in this "Most of Us". My primary interest in horror is in the 30s-50s stuff and I have almost no use for modern horror.....and while they have certainly flooded the market with the core Universal Monster films, they are nowhere near exhausting their catalog.

 

[BarryM]

Some people might consider this film to be a horror.....lol

 

[Jim_K]

So far a big 'ol fat zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz from me.

I'm not even remotely tempted to buy The Wolf Man for a third time on DVD.........until/if they ever offer a Blu-ray my current copy will suffice.

I'm more interested in classic horror than contemporary for the most part but I'd buy a Blu-ray of They live and Prince of Darkness......DVD re-issues = forget it.

Since this is only 9 titles of what 40+? ............ hopefully something that piques my interest will pop up for Halloween. If not I'll spend my money elsewhere.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I too am disappointed Universal isn't releasing THE WOLF MAN on Blu and I'm curious why they're releasing it now and not with the upcoming remake.

I'll probably rent PHANTASM II but it's certainly not a buy and especially if they don't give it the SE treatment that the R2 box set got. I'm sure the Craven and Carpenter sets will sell a lot of copies at Wal-Mart for $13 but these too aren't getting upgraded by me unless it's Blu.

 

[pitchman]

I know it's not Universal, but this upcoming release from that Video Business article looks interesting. I have all of the titles (except Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) but for those who don't, this should be a nice get for around $20.

 

[darkrock17]

Is The Birds getting the Legacy treatment?