USHE Press Release: Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection (Blu-ray) includes Creature (1 Viewer)

[Woody8]

Really? Not meaning to show off or anything, but I saw the tear on my old Standard 8mm digest one-reeler. Mind you, I'm constantly amazed at things I spot for the first time on Blu-rays.

Lol, me too. Although I never noticed Lou's cold sore on my 8mm "A&C Meet Frankenstein" , and that was in Super 8!

 

[RolandL]

Lol, me too. Although I never noticed Lou's cold sore on my 8mm "A&C Meet Frankenstein" , and that was in Super 8!

TCM showed A&C Meet Frankenstein in the 1.85:1 ratio a while back and it looked OK even though it was never shown that way at a theatre.

 

[Ken Volok]

S far have only screened two films out of this collection, but I am very very happy with the quality of the transfers and restorations thus far.
The two:
1. The Invisible Man : Never thought I'd ever see it look so good. Some reviewers have complained about effects flaws now being visible after decades of invisibility. I personally saw no fx flaws I hadn't noticed back when I first saw an analog TV broadcast thru all home video releases. The film's magic is intact.
2. Phantom of the Opera. Not much to recommend this film, tho for the most part the Technicolor cinematography, transfer and restoration are top notch , tho occasionally the color slightly fluctuates. Technical qualities aside, I will probably never watch this film again if I can prevent it and would trade it in if possible. The chandelier sequence in this version defines the term "cheat", in fact I was insulted.
For a 2013 release, this would be my suggestion:
1. Old Dark House
2. Dracula's Daughter
3. Son of Frankenstein
4. Werewolf of London
5. Invisible Man Returns
6. The Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney/Mamoulian version)
7. The Mummy's Hand
8. Revenge of the Creature
I wish someone would remind Universal they have what many consider to be the superior version of "Show Boat" by James Whale.

 

[t1g3r5fan]

For a 2013 release, this would be my suggestion:
1. Old Dark House
2. Dracula's Daughter
3. Son of Frankenstein
4. Werewolf of London
5. Invisible Man Returns
6. The Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney/Mamoulian version)
7. The Mummy's Hand
8. Revenge of the Creature
I wish someone would remind Universal they have what many consider to be the superior version of "Show Boat" by James Whale.

I believe Kino still holds the rights to the 1932 version of The Old Dark House and Image had released a pretty good Blu of the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera about a year ago. As for the 1936 version of Show Boat, that resides with Warner, who has yet to get cracking on the Ultimate Collector's Edition of the title (all three film versions of it).

 

[John Morgan]

I don’t know...for some reason, I would prefer having the series in a set with all the films in order. It just seems more organized to me, although I don’t think I ever sat down and watched them in order at one sitting. Maybe because I have all these memorized from all the showings I have seen since the latter 50s when they first played on television.
I also think the 30s and 40s films should be kept together and do a separate collection of the 50s sci-fi films.
If they could do the same quality by having two films per disc, here is my choice (and I don’t include the titles in this current set).
Disc One: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN
GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN
Disc Two: DRACULA’S DAUGHTER
SON OF DRACULA
Disc Three: WEREWOLF OF LONDON
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN
Disc Four: HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
HOUSE OF DRACULA
Disc Five: THE MUMMY’S HAND
THE MUMMY’S TOMB
Disc Six: THE MUMMY’S GHOST
THE MUMMY’S CURSE
Although Kino may own the rights to THE OLD DARK HOUSE, I believe Universal owns the superior material for this film. There were a few clips from this film in the Universal Horrors documentary and they were superb. I don’t know what price Universal may be asking to access their material or even if they would do it.

 

[Jason_V]

Originally Posted by John Morgan /t/321849/ushe-press-release-universal-classic-monsters-the-essential-collection-blu-ray-includes-creature-in-3d/300#post_3985351
I don’t know...for some reason, I would prefer having the series in a set with all the films in order.

I wholeheartedly agree. The only rationale for doing it in the monsters collections I can see is to help out the lesser known titles. A certain subset of consumers would buy a standalone CftBL...but not everyone who will buy Frankenstein. However, if you get people to buy the set based on Frankenstein or Dracula, you have the opportunity to create a new fan of Creature.

In that regard, I can completely understand this kind of release. However, this time next year, I wouldn't be shocked to see these movies broken out...possibly with some sequels.

 

[Alan Tully]

I think John Morgan has nailed the next Universal Horror Box. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it released next year, hopefully along side the Universal 50's Science Fiction Box...& the smaller Hammer Film Box, but I'm being greedy here. With much older films I feel box sets & double bills are the way to go, & there'll always be a ready audience for horror/science fiction movies, not huge, but I'm not sure if there's a huge audience for anything these days.

 

Here are my grades so far:

Dracula
Video: A
Audio: A

The Mummy
Video: A
Audio: A

The Invisible Man
Video: A
Audio: A

Phantom of the Opera
Video: A-
Audio: A

..I'll edit this as I watch them.

 

[Kevin EK]

It's nice to think of the idea of Universal releasing those titles, but my instincts tell me this will be it. I think we'll see individual releases of some of the titles in the box, but I strongly doubt that they'll put the various sequels and combinations on Blu. As it is, I'm happy that several got the releases in the 2004 editions.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Kevin EK /t/321849/ushe-press-release-universal-classic-monsters-the-essential-collection-blu-ray-includes-creature-in-3d/300#post_3985391
It's nice to think of the idea of Universal releasing those titles, but my instincts tell me this will be it. I think we'll see individual releases of some of the titles in the box, but I strongly doubt that they'll put the various sequels and combinations on Blu. As it is, I'm happy that several got the releases in the 2004 editions.

I have to agree with you Kevin. Unless these titles sell like hot cakes, I doubt Universal would spend the necessary funds to do other Horror titles right on BD.

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by Robert Crawford /t/321849/ushe-press-release-universal-classic-monsters-the-essential-collection-blu-ray-includes-creature-in-3d/300#post_3985397
I have to agree with you Kevin. Unless these titles sell like hot cakes, I doubt Universal would spend the necessary funds to do other Horror titles right on BD.

I can't argue with either of you. We desperately need some new release of the sequels though, the last one was the Legacy discs, flipper DVDs that many of us could never find a set that would play all the way through- I exchanged in 4 of the deluxe sets with the busts and I think "House Of Dracula" is still a problem. Maybe they can license through TCM or something. They're not the greatest films in the world, but still important ones.

 

The Frankenstein Series is very dear to me. I hope the remaining five in that series will be released.

 

[JoHud]

I'm hopeful some of their better sci-fi makes it to blu-ray. Perhaps a release of The Incredible Shrinking Man or a 3-D HD transfer of It Came From Outer Space?

I can't argue with either of you. We desperately need some new release of the sequels though, the last one was the Legacy discs, flipper DVDs that many of us could never find a set that would play all the way through- I exchanged in 4 of the deluxe sets with the busts and I think "House Of Dracula" is still a problem.  Maybe they can license through TCM or something.  They're not the greatest films in the world, but still important ones.

Ha! That's a big reason why I just picked up this set, because of those blasted flippers. Hopefully Universal does release the rest so I can retire them for good, but I'm still skeptical on how deep Universal will dig into its B-horror library for future blu-ray releases.

 

[Ken Volok]

A good HD transfer vs restoration are two different things as we all know. I'm surprised that even in the 90s if not for the 04 Legacy reissues HD files weren't created then and there. They knew HD was upcoming, none of this is a surprise to the studios. Or is Criterion REALLY the only home video company with a clue? (I do like Kino and Image as well)
Plus on one of the Universal 100th "featurettes" they show the machine that scans the frames; if they have the decent prints they used for the legacy series (and didn't already make HD files)- they can just scan those prints.
Back in the old legacy flipper days i wish I'd known other people were also having problems, I returned The Mummy countless times til I gave up and just rebought a single film release.

 

Yeah, my trouble movie was Son of Dracula. The climax of the film skips to the end!

 

[Kevin EK]

The full review is now posted.

Read the Complete Review here.

 

[Craig Beam]

I don’t know...for some reason, I would prefer having the series in a set with all the films in order. It just seems more organized to me, although I don’t think I ever sat down and watched them in order at one sitting. Maybe because I have all these memorized from all the showings I have seen since the latter 50s when they first played on television.
I also think the 30s and 40s films should be kept together and do a separate collection of the 50s sci-fi films.
If they could do the same quality by having two films per disc, here is my choice (and I don’t include the titles in this current set).
Disc One: SON OF FRANKENSTEIN
GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN
Disc Two: DRACULA’S DAUGHTER
SON OF DRACULA
Disc Three: WEREWOLF OF LONDON
FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN
Disc Four: HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN
HOUSE OF DRACULA
Disc Five: THE MUMMY’S HAND
THE MUMMY’S TOMB
Disc Six: THE MUMMY’S GHOST
THE MUMMY’S CURSE
Although Kino may own the rights to THE OLD DARK HOUSE, I believe Universal owns the superior material for this film. There were a few clips from this film in the Universal Horrors documentary and they were superb. I don’t know what price Universal may be asking to access their material or even if they would do it.

I like the list, but I'd include the Invisible Man and Creature sequels (particularly Revenge of the Creature in 3D!). I'm betting they could get 3 (maybe even 4) films per double-layered disc, since there likely wouldn't be any supplements. However, that's a whopping 18 films.... so maybe two sets?

 

[Moe Dickstein]

A good HD transfer vs restoration are two different things as we all know. I'm surprised that even in the 90s if not for the 04 Legacy reissues HD files weren't created then and there. They knew HD was upcoming, none of this is a surprise to the studios. Or is Criterion REALLY the only home video company with a clue? (I do like Kino and Image as well)
Plus on one of the Universal 100th "featurettes" they show the machine that scans the frames; if they have the decent prints they used for the legacy series (and didn't already make HD files)- they can just scan those prints.
Back in the old legacy flipper days i wish I'd known other people were also having problems, I returned The Mummy countless times til I gave up and just rebought a single film release.

An HD transfer from 99 or 04 would not be considered acceptable for Blu-Ray today.

 

For the next release, how about:
1. Dracula's Daughter
2. Son of Frankenstein
3. Werewolf of London
4. The Mummy's Hand
5. Revenge of the Creature (2D and 3D)
6. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
7. Son of Dracula
8. House of Frankenstein

 

[Larry Sutliff]

For the next release, how about: 1. Dracula's Daughter 2. Son of Frankenstein 3. Werewolf of London 4. The Mummy's Hand 5. Revenge of the Creature (2D and 3D) 6. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 7. Son of Dracula 8. House of Frankenstein

Great ideas for the next set! I think DRACULA'S DAUGHTER and SON OF FRANKENSTEIN are excellent movies(as good or better than some of the films included in the current set), and those would be my top choices for the next collection on Blu-ray.