Universal Monsters: The Essential Collection [Blu-ray]

This is a great collection all the classic monsters in one place. There is not a bad film in the bunch. Love the movies, not much excitement as far as the special features go, but I dont generally watch them more than once.

I want to star with the few flaws of this collection: Biggest flaw is that The Phantom of the Opera that is included is the 1943 film, which I think is a super underwhelming film in all elements except gorgeous stage design. I was hoping for the legendary Lon Chaney Sr.'s Phantom of the Opera 1925 film. Another flaw is that the upscaling of the resolution is fantastic for Dracula and Frankenstein, but starts to get spotty further in the collection. The Wolf Man has a lot of scenes with fog, and they seem to be unable to upscale those scenes and they're very murky, but will snap back into sharpness for scenes without it. Now when it comes to the positives, there is a lot to talk about. This collection comes with a few dozen prints of posters and scenes from the films, around 6 inches or so in length, as well as a booklet containing the stories of the production of these classic films, and facts about the actors, subjects, etc. The case holding the disks themselves also are plastered with fantastic images that I appreciated. Each blu-ray also includes a lot of bonus features I didn't notice originally, such as both the original Dracula, as well as the Spanish version filmed alongside with Bela Lugosi's version, the old-school 3-D version of The Creature of the Black Lagoon which is an option that can be used in its disk, and every disk includes a few documentaries discussing each film and their legacy. Despite some shortcomings, this is an amazing package that I feel every horror fan and classic film fan would greatly benefit from this. If you don't own any of these films, this would be a fantastic purchase.

There are a couple of logos that appear on UK packaged versions of Bluray movies, and living in the USA, I am very leery of taking a chance with them, as I have been burned by playback compatibility issues.I am happy to report that this particular set plays fine on my PlayStation 3.Being just a very casual fan of classic monster/horror films, I was also never in a rush to pick this up when it first came out, but at under $25 bucks for 8 genre defining titles, I picked it up out of curiosity.The packaging of the UK set is superb - there's a fairly sizable booklet and postcard style poster reproductions included if you are into that sort of thing. More importantly to me, the discs themselves are packaged on spindles in such a way that they don't slide around and scratch each other. Each disc is vividly silkscreened too.As for the films, they look the best I've ever seen - growing up in the 60's, my recollection of these movies were that they were presented in chopped up little segments, edited down to make room for more commercials. It will be nice to finally see a classic film like "Frankenstein" as it originally appeared in the theatres of old. Then there's also the bonus features included for each film to explore.So even if you're not a fan of the genre, but enjoy the merits of classic cinema, this set is very easy to recommend. :)

I have never seen these movies look this amazing. Aside from a few grainy scenes and the clothing styles, these movies don't look 80 years old. THESE are horror movies, not those bloody, gory movies they put out these days. These movies are smart and don't rely on cheap gags (most of the time) to scare or thrill you. Sure, you have to suspend disbelief a lot of the time, but so what ? These aren't realistic movies in the first place.Aside from the UK version lacking a commentary for Dracula, this is just about identical to the US set. The biggest reason to buy the UK set, other than it being FAR cheaper, is the much better packaging. In the US version, the discs slide into tight sleeve pages. They say, oh, you don't have to worry. They're blu-rays. They won't get scratched. Bull. No matter how durable blu-rays are, if you slide them in and out of sleeves enough times, they'll get scratched. The disc in the UK set are in plastic digitrays and don't touch each other or slide in and out of sleeves. I can't believe that the people that put together the US set were so cheap when they were making the sets.....If you're any kind of classic monsters fan, you need to get this set. There tons of great features like documentaries about the makeup artists, the making of the movies, the history of monster movies and Universal Studios, and at least one, sometimes two, commentaries for each movies.The only downside to the set, to me at least, is the inclusion of the colour version of Phantom Of The Opera instead of the silent 1925 version. The Lon Chaney version is the one that people want to see again and again.

This blu-ray collection is a must have for any Universal Monster movie fan. The set is region free and will work on any Blu-Ray player. Re-watching these film classics are complete joy with the upgraded picture and audio quality.Everyone who walks by as I am watching these comment on how great they look. The fact that I tell them that they are from the 1940/50's only adds to their amazement.For $38 (and $2.99 next day prime shipping) you simply won't find a better deal on what most consider the 8 classic films out of the 30 complete collection. Your other option is to pay twice as much for the American set which is very similar.I only have two complaints about the set. The menu can be a little confusing to navigate due to the fact that it isn't clearly laid out. For example to get to the extras on each disk you select the * . It would be nice if it just said extras. Maybe it's a European thing? It's by no means a deal breaker.My other complaint is that everytime you insert a disk you get a short video from Universal reminding us how awesome they are disguised as a 100 year anniversary. Luckily it can be skipped, but it is a little annoying after awhile. Again, not a deal breaker.If you are on the fence about which set to get... Look no further, this is the one.

Un cofanetto particolare solo per persone che amano i film vecchio stileIo lo presa con pagamento rateale Amazon èd è un acquisto top.Scordatevi horror con effetti speciali.Qui solo Classic

Quick delivery and in perfect condition. This set includes the poster cards and the booklet. The disks are housed in a fold out display case and each disk gets its own holder.I've watched Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon so far and they look fantastic with tons of special features. Highly recommended.

Excelente pack a mejor precio:Los mejores clasicos de Terror de Universal Studios remasterizados y unidos en un estuche diseñado con mucho mimo, que además ocupa muy poco espacio.Calidad de imagen y sonido inmejorable, tanto en inglés como es Español. Todas las películas incluyen abundantes extras y , además, incluye varias estampitas o cuartillas de los carteles de la película.Compra obligada para cualquier cinéfilo que se precie, más cuando está disponible a un precio más que tentador

ᗯᗩTᑕᕼIᑎG ᐯEᖇY GOOᗪ

«Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection» is a fantastic product. As many Canadian buyers, I decided to buy the less expensive UK version that also offer more language flexibility than the North American set. For me, as a French speaking person, the fact that these films are now presented with a French language track is a very good news. With the North American set, I could see the movies with the English or the French soundtrack but, unfortunately, I could not have the possibility to see the movies with the English track with French subtitles, what I can do with the UK set.All this to say that I am really happy with this film collection and I even discovered an unexpected gift on the «Dracula» French speaking track : a new musical score. We all know that in 1931, when the Tod Browning «Dracula» was made, it was not common practice to compose original music to accompany movies (it will become standard procedure a few years later). So, I was under the impression that no music whatsoever exist to accompany that film until Universal asked Philip Glass to compose his score in 1998. I was wrong. Yes my friends, this is not a mistake. You can listen to original music on the French and Italian tracks of «Dracula» on the UK version of «Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection» (the exact same music is used on both language tracks). I read a lot about the history of that film and I never saw any mention about the existence of that score. I have to say that this is a very pleasant surprise. I have a master degree in musicology and from my knowledge of classical music and film music in general, I can tell you that the composer who created that piece did a very good job.There are no information on the blu-ray disc about the French and Italian dubbing tracks and this new score but they were probably made around 1960 and part of the same production. The name of the composer is not mentionned anywhere but the music seems to be influenced by Bela Bartok. I would say that this music is more modern that what you would find in Hollywood at the same period. This is why I suppose the composer was European and was commisionned around 1960 to write music to accompany the new langage tracks. At first, I was shocked by this new music because it really transforms the original Tod Browning movie but finally the result is quite interesting. I would even say that this musical score do a better job than the Philip Glass music. Not that the Philip Glass composition is not well crafted. It is an excellent concert piece but utilized as film music it is so intrusive that it distracts the viewer from the movie. On the contrary, the new score on the French and Italian language tracks helps to create the right mood at every important moment in the film, what any good film music should do.So, if seeing the Tod Browning «Dracula» with a new musical accompaniment is of special interest for you, you will find that music on the French and Italian tracks of the UK set. The three other languages (English, Spanish and German) don't have any music to accompany their speaking tracks. I suppose that you may also find that score on the French track of the North American set.I would appreciate to have information about the creation of that composition : who the composer was, when it was composed, why Universal have commissioned this music and why the company use it on some language tracks but not on others.Even if French is my mother tongue, for me the French version of the 1931 «Dracula» will never replace the original English version of the Tod Browning movie with Bela Lugosi enigmatic voice. But to discover a new musical score to accompany that classic movie is a gift from Universal and I thank them for that.