When might Universal announce ALL of its "Fall Of Fear" titles?

I'm still crossing my fingers. They've only identified about a dozen of the supposed 40 titles that will be included in this promotion. I'm sure I'm not alone in praying that ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, CAT AND THE CANARY (1939) and THE UNINVITED will be among those films not yet identified. If they're not, among nearly thirty films, I will probably lose hope that those three titles will ever see the DVD light of day.

I could be wrong, but I thought all of the new titles had already been announced, and that most of the 40 titles are simply repackagings.

Wasn't a new transfer done of The Uninvited? I'd love to get that one on a decent disc

Even if no new releases are announced, it'd be really grand if they re-release the Bela Lugosi, Hammer and Invisible Man sets as double bill DVD-9s, given the many problems consumers have had with the DVD-18s

It seems that the only "fear" that we will be having this Fall (2009) is that Universal Studios Home Entertainment will be releasing nothing suitable for Halloween!

But yes they could rerelease both the BELA LUGOSI and HAMMER HORROR FILMS COLLECTIONS as I didn't bother buying either because of all the negative reports pertaining to the encoding defects inherent with the DVD-18 supercompressed format.

Universal could also easily reissue the 1940s horror film collection that was previously issued only as a Best Buy exclusive which all of us in Canada never had a chance to obtain either.

Haven't we already had this selfsame topic (well) covered in a lengthier identically themed discussion thread.

Jeff T.

Shouldn't they have already made the announcement - it's early July and allowing the time between pre-order/book date and street date for Late September-Early October, we should have heard nothing.

i still expect it to be re-releases of stuff already out  as DVD-9s as suggested.

http://www.tcm.com/schedule/month/?cid=N&timezone=EST&oid=10/1/2009

Check out the advance October schedule for Turner Classic Movies. Lots of good Halloween stuff...but the biggie is "Murders In The Zoo" is scheduled for October 30th at 10 p.m. eastern.

Many times TCM's schedule undergoes changes after these advance schedules are released. Let's cross our fingers and hope this is correct.

But yes they could rerelease both the BELA LUGOSI and HAMMER HORROR FILMS COLLECTIONS as I didn't bother buying either because of all the negative reports pertaining to the encoding defects inherent with the DVD-18 supercompressed format.

There is nothing wrong with the encoding of the films; the problem lies with the physical manufacture of the discs. DVD-18 type discs which have two layers on each side are quite difficult to make, and not all of the disc manufacturers are set up to do it. This, plus I rather suspect budget allocations, lead Universal to choose a Mexican based maker which has, shall we say "quality control issues". This means that a substantial portion of the discs have errors on them. Some people may own them without knowing, because some models of DVD player have better error-correction on them, and play them perfectly. My set plays perfectly on my Panasonic player, but refuses to do so on my venerable Pioneer and on my PC drives. A scan using a disc checker reveals that both discs have bad sectors on both sides, and they all cluster around the layerchange area.

The films themselves look perfectly fine, in fact, they look superb. Given the lack of extras, etc, it is not unreasonable to have what is in effect two films on a DVD-9 disc (although, obviously, it is always more desireable to have just one film, which permits greater bitrates).

The problem with this set is not the encoding, nor over use of compression, it is the manufacture of the physical medium itself.

If there were no problems with the type 18 discs, or these films were issued two per disc on the more common DVD-9 type, or even one film per DVD-5 type, I'd be perfectly content to buy them.

Yeah, those two sets were the only DVD-18s I've ever had problems with. I really wish that Universal would get their act together and start releasing more new-to-DVD oldies, but at the very least, they SHOULD re-do the HAMMER and BELA LUGOSI collections! 

I have come with what I think is the list of 40 Fall of Fear titles.  The list is based on what is up for pre-order at Amazon.com and DVD Empire, plus the recent Classic Flix announcement that the Universal Horror Archive (a Best Buy exclusive from 2007) is getting a full retail release on 9/15.

An American Werewolf in London (New Special Edition)
Army of Darkness (Screwhead Edition)
John Carpenter: Master Of Fear Collection (Prince Of Darkness, They Live, The Thing, Village Of The Damned)
King Kong Escapes
King Kong Vs. Godzilla
Phantasm II
Wes Craven Horror Collection, The (The People Under The Stairs, Shocker, The Serpent And The Rainbow)
Wolf Man, The: The Universal Legacy Series
Bride of Frankenstein
Cape Fear (1991)
Cat People (1982)
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Dead Silence
Dracula (1979)
Frankenstein: The True Stoy (1973)
The Frighteners
Hellboy 2
The Hitcher (2007)
Land of the Dead
The Legacy
The Mummy (1932)
Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Psycho (1960)
The Sentinel
Shaun of the Dead
Skeleton Key (2005)
Slither
Sssssss
Van Helsing
The Wolf Man (Standard Edition)
Universal Horor Archive release (Black Cat '41, Man Made Monster, Night Monster, Horror Island, Captive Wild Woman)

Yup, I think you are right and nothing there excites me since I have all the titles that I want.  I will spring for the new American Werewolf in London, but nothing else. As I see it there is not one film new to DVD.  What could have been a great Halloween season has just got worse.

I can't speak to the rest of the list, but Phantasm 2 is new to R1.

Your right Phantasm 2 is new to R1,  Also some of the titles will be offered in Blu-ray, so a few will get new transfers.  I just wish Universal would dig a little deeper into the vault and come up with some new to DVD films.  Universal is sitting on some of the most wanted Horror /Mystery films from the Paramount catalog and with such void this year from MGM/Fox, Warner's, and even Sony, Universal had a perfect opportunity for a great promotion of titles and sweep rug with everyone else.  This year was a perfect time to have a great set of films to release and no one took advantage of it.  It would even be great if Universal took all their horror films (Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, Creature and few others) and put them in a box set with new transfers as they did with Abbott & Costello last year,  It would have been great to put them in a coffin box and add a book on the history of the Universal Horror films.  They could have gotten the Paramount horror/mystery films together in a collection that looked liked a haunted house.  Nothing like pulling The Uninvited out of the attic of the haunted house.  Oh well I can dream.

With so many people requesting The Uninvited on DVD you would think an enterprise that's supposed to give the public what they want would oblige. We're the consumers ready to shell out - they're the people who have the product - isn't this the way it works? Hell, if they're releasing Phantasm II why can't...oh, never mind.

As I said there was a similarly extensively responded to themed discussion thread on this very topic but I think that it has been conclusively proven beyond a shadow-of-a-doubt that there are still outstanding titles in the Universal Pictures horror film catalogue that could be released on DVD.

Just to cite one such example I (personally) would welcome a horror doublebill of the second feature horror B-film programmers THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE (1958)/CURSE OF THE UNDEAD (1959) complete with the original theatrical trailers which would outclass most anything else announced for Halloween 2009.

But this just doesn't seem to the year for it.  Perhaps Universal just requires some lagtime to catch its corporate breath and properly assess the situation before moving ahead once again.  Universal just doesn't seem very interested in releasing much of anything lately!

Where is a good (anamorphic) widescreen digitally remastered and fully restored DVD edition of COLOSSUS THE FORBIN PROJECT (1970)?

If it comes to frontline Universal horror screen classics then I am still lobbying for FLESH AND FANTASY (1943) which is the best suggestion by far! 

Jeff T.
Edited by JeffT. - 7/23/2009 at 05:58 am GMT

There's one on UK DVD

Looking forward to the Horror Archive but the rest... yuck!!

wow.  Whole lot of nothing there.  What a waste of a promotion.

I will be getting An American Werewolf on BD but that's it. I'm not buying the classic monsters again unless they get a BD release.

I'm becoming convinced that Island of Lost Souls, Murders in the Zoo and The Uninvited will never see the light of day on R1 DVD.

MURDERS IN THE ZOO will be on TCM in Oct. so that's as good as it's going to get for now.  Perhaps next year we'll get some of these in either a Pre-Code set or as some type of collection.

Or we just just try and stay positive in hopes that these "good sellers" will make Universal enough money to throw a few pennies at the smaller titles next year.

If PHANTASM II doesn't have the workprint then I say why bother.  Hopefully they at least have the alternate/deleted footage on as an extra.

If Uni had any imagination, they could release Island in the UK making a big deal of its banned status

deleted
Edited by Joe Karlosi - 9/12/09 at 8:53am

The above image can be found on AMAZON.COM (U.S.).

I can't believe that I am the FIRST to make this (startling) revelation known here but according to both AMAZON.COM and AMAZON.CA (Canada) due out on September 13th, 2009 (more likely this Tuesday, September 15th, 2009) is the Universal Studios Home Entertainment UNIVERSAL HORROR CLASSIC MOVIE ARCHIVE 5-disc set consisting of five Universal Pictures B-film doublebill programmer screen horror classics THE BLACK CAT (1941), HORROR ISLAND (1941), MAN-MADE MONSTER (1941), NIGHT MONSTER (1942) and CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943) collectively featuring vintage screen horror celebrities Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr., Basil Rathbone, Lionel Atwill and John Carradine previously issued only in the U.S. as a BEST BUY exclusive and now finally made available to the world.

Some will undoubtedly dismiss "Ah, I already have those" but for many of us living outside the U.S. (and even some living inside) this will be our golden opportunity to acquire this nifty little collection of "minor" Universal Pictures horror second features.  Needless to say I have seized the opportunity and have already placed my advanced preorder.

But wait there is (possible) more!

At least according to AMAZON.CA also scheduled for release on September 13th, 2009 is the Universal Studios Home Entertainment "Fall of Fear" edition of THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) albeit this is probably a premature announcement of an intended Universal Legacy Series DVD release scheduled some time in the (near) future.

www.amazon.ca/Invisible-Man-James-Whale/dp/B002HR1X5U/ref=sr_1_5  

Well for many of us this (encouraging) news is much more preferable than absolutely nothing and a good indication that just maybe future Universal Pictures screen horror classic DVD releases are not dead after all!



Jeff T.
Edited by JeffT. - 9/12/09 at 11:12am

Yeah, it's a nice opportunity for people outside of the US who couldn't persuade someone to buy a copy of the Movie Archive set for them from Best Buy - but then Universal doesn't care a bit for foreign sales, so really, the general release of this is one big fat nothing. It's just a totally cost free way to squeeze a few more sales out of stuff they already released, while appearing to do something for Halloween, when in reality they are doing squat.

Guys, I myself was guilty of writing Universal off before -- but there have been reports elsewhere that the studio may be releasing another set of never-before-to-DVD older horrors. I can't get into more detail --  partly because I don't know any specifics myself! -- but also because it was later reported that Universal would rather keep private regarding all the details until they're ready to make an announcement. When this will be, or what will be on the set, is anyone's guess.

I don't want to offend Universal if they're reading this, but hopefully they'll know there are a lot of fans who appreciate this and are anxiously awaiting more classic horror movies.

I bet they make it another Best Buy exclusive though!

There is a lot of talk about this non-announced set.  It is said that it will be made up of some previously released VHS titles and some never before released to home video.  The people doing the talking are one that would be in the know so I can only salivate what the titles could be.  I guess I proved Pavlov's Theory again.

I'm all for a BEST BUY excusive before a release to general retail - it gets the stuff out on the shelf into a store. :)  

With so much talk of health care reform in the U.S., and so many people mad at doctors, a Mad Doctor set might be good timing.  They have a lot to choose from, featuring crazed doctors/scientists:

Island of Lost Souls
Murders in the Zoo
The Mad Doctor of Market Street
The Strange Case of Dr. Rx
The Mad Ghoul
Jungle Captive
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
House of Horrors

OK, that last one doesn't have a crazed doctor/scientist in it, but I threw it in there anyway.

Since my initial message posting the previously listed AMAZON.COM and AMAZON.CA release date for the Universal Studios Home Entertainment UNIVERSAL HORROR MOVIE ARCHIVE 5-disc set has now been revised to October 20th, 2009 but still definitely coming out.

Meanwhile (predictably) the DVD release of THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) has now been put on hold indefinitely!

If any further classic Universal screen horror titles are released on DVD either as single film sets or multi-film collections I am not in favour of a BEST BUY exclusive (unless these come out in our local Canadian BEST BUY stores as well) but a general release...which is what they have been the last couple of rounds!

I would still like to see a super-deluxe DVD release of FLESH AND FANTASY (1943) brimming with special extras.

But there are still a lot of outstanding titles that can be selected (not to mention titles previously released on the problematic doubleside DVD 18s) so I am sure we haven't seen the last of these.

Jeff T.

Yeah, whats not to like about Best Buy exclusives, ehh?

Except you can't buy them if you live outside of the US. And the releases are invisible to all those people who don't ever look at Best Buy. And there's no price competition. And all the copies get bought up by scalpers to resell them at outrageous prices on Ebay and MarketPlace to all the poor sods who can't get them at Best Buy. And Best Buy are rubbish at selling them anyway, since they do things like not advertising them, not putting them for sale on their website, or putting them on the website with stupid and obscure titles that make them impossible to find. And the frontline stores are even worse since their stock system is dire, the staff know nothing about DVD releases, and the shelf stackers put titles in pretty much random places like shoving the sci-fi collection in with the action kung-fu movies.

Aside from all this, Best Buy exclusives are just great. It's obviously well worth all that just to get a title onto one store shelf in the high street.

Balanced against little things like a strategy guaranteed to minimise sales and seriously piss off the consumer, it's an obvious winner!

Oh, and I was being sarcastic.

I guess there had to be someone out there who likes the "Best Buy exclusive!" crap. It makes a change from all the people I heard of so far who hate them.