Universal Classic Monsters : The Essential Collection (Blu-ray)

[kidgloves]

How bad do I want this? http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/7298...essential.html 1931: 'Dracula' 1931: 'Frankenstein' 1932: 'The Mummy' 1933: 'The Invisible Man' 1935: 'Bride of Frankenstein' 1941: 'The Wolf Man' 1943: 'Phantom of the Opera' 1954: 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'

[Neil]

The Creature From The Black Lagoon sort of seems out of place? Personally I'd love to have seen more of the 1940s horror flicks. eg - "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" or "House of Frankenstein"?

[EvilNed]

The Wolf Man is my absolute favorite, followed by the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Frankenstein's OK, Dracula is boring. Can't remember anything from The Mummy and haven't seen the rest.

[MinionZombie]

1931: 'Dracula' - I was actually a bit disappointed in this flick. Certain parts I quite enjoyed, but overall I didn't get into it that much. 1931: 'Frankenstein' - classic, I've seen it a few times. 1932: 'The Mummy' - only seen it once, and that was ages ago, so I can't really remember much about it. I seem to remember it was pretty good though. 1933: 'The Invisible Man' - excellent flick. Great special effects, and superb opening, and surprisingly dark and violent for the period. 1935: 'Bride of Frankenstein' - another excellent flick. Really enjoyable, and perhaps better than the original Frankenstein. 1941: 'The Wolf Man' - again, another solid classic. When it comes to that character, this is where it's at. 1943: 'Phantom of the Opera' - I have not seen this one yet. 1954: 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' - again, I really enjoyed this one. It's inclusion does seem slightly 'out of place' compared to the others, but I suppose it's down to the iconic status of the creature, rather than chronological placement. Aye, I imagine that's a very good set. Here's a run down: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Univer.../35661/#Review

[bassman]

I'll wait to catch it on a sale, but yeah.....definite purchase.

[MoonSylver]

Hurm. Been wanting the Universal Franchise Collection of Horror for some time, so this might be the way to go. As for the Creech,yeah, it's for his place in the Pantheon.

[Neil]

At least, unlike the new Night 1990 bluray release, they won't be able to screw the colouring up

[Mike70]

I'm one of the biggest Universal geeks you'll ever meet. those flicks are what got me into horror and have defined it ever since. I'm quite partial to "Son of Frankenstein", probably me fav of the lot. the original "Mummy" is great, "the Wolfman" is an outstanding film - i could go on for pages but won't. - - - Updated - - - The Creature From The Black Lagoon sort of seems out of place? Personally I'd love to have seen more of the 1940s horror flicks. eg - "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" or "House of Frankenstein"? it has always seemed that way to me. it was made way after most of the other flicks, is more in line with the 50's sci-fi flicks that were big drive-in faves back then. "Creature" has always been the outsider Universal movie for me. I will hardly ever pass up a chance to watch any of the Universal flicks except for "Creature", i've always been quite meh about it.

[krisvds]

Own this collection on DVD. What a fantastic set of films. My personal favourite is The Invisible Man. Some of the speeches the main character delivers are genious. Damn shame they didn't include some of the other sequels to theit various franchises. Son of Frankenstein is indeed fantastic.

[Neil]

AICN has an interesting piece on "Son of Frankenstein" - http://www.aintitcool.com/node/58753

[EvilNed]

As a person who grew up with these films to some extent, although on fairness it was on VHS and much past their prime, I disagree that the Creature from the Black Lagoon feels out of place. To me, it's up there with the others. I'd probably list that one as a classic Universal horror film before I'd bring up the Invisible Man, for instance.

[MinionZombie]

As a person who grew up with these films to some extent, although on fairness it was on VHS and much past their prime, I disagree that the Creature from the Black Lagoon feels out of place. To me, it's up there with the others. I'd probably list that one as a classic Universal horror film before I'd bring up the Invisible Man, for instance. In time it's out-of-place, but in type it's very much in-place. If that makes sense?

[EvilNed]

Well, it's 10 years after most of them, but then again there's a 10 year gap between Wolf Man and Dracula / Frankenstein as well... Sooo...

[MinionZombie]

Well, it's 10 years after most of them, but then again there's a 10 year gap between Wolf Man and Dracula / Frankenstein as well... Sooo... Was more meaning how the dates of the films are more tightly grouped from Dracula to Phantom of the Opera, by date, while Creature is a full 11 years after Phantom (the largest gap in the main lot is 6 years). What I'm trying to say is that Creature could be seen as somewhat of a 'throwback' flick to the 30s or 40s, while many other movies of the 1950s were focusing on giant insects and aliens, although Creature does have a different shift in that it's more about something that harks back to a period in evolution that is long forgotten, whereas the other flicks are the effects of mad scientists or folklore. In a way the 'mad science' has a foot in the 1950s too ... but lest I ramble on, I circle back to my first two sentences. It's also like how there's an ideological, stylistic and thematic shift from, say, Scream in 1996 to Hostel in 2005 (shifts come faster these days). Personally though, I'd still consider Creature to be more a part of the classic monsters series (albeit a late entry when many other films were doing 'newer' things), than the main apparent thrust of 1950s sci-fi/horror.

[shootemindehead]

Without doubt, the greatest film in that collection is 'Frankenstein'. It never gets old and to me it far outstrips the sequel, which is often deemed the better film. I must confess, I have no idea why. I've always found it a much lesser item, with parts that are just unforgivably stupid, like Dr. Pretorius and his jam jar creations. @Mike: Can't believe you're "meh" with the creature!