DVD Josh

I was lucky enough to score a MINT copy of the Universal Classic Monster Collection for a song. I was messing around Amazon and I saw some other titles that look to be from the same "series". These are what I saw:

The Mummy's Ghost/The Mummy's Curse (1944)
Werewolf of London / She-Wolf of London (1935)
Dracula's Daughter/Son of Dracula (1936)
Son of Frankenstein / The Ghost of Frankenstein (1939)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / House of Frankenstein (1944)

Is this the complete list?

I also realize there is the Dracula/Wolfman/Frankenstein collections.

What's the better purchase? To get the Universal OOP titles or the rereleases? I realize that the OOP ones have no extra features, but since I have the Classic Collection, do the new releases offer anything additional?

Thanks for the help, and I'd appreciate any other relevant info.

bboisvert

You're missing Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb.

And, yes, these are all bare-bones and all of them (except the two Mummy doubles) are included in the new Monster Legacy set, along with the previously unreleased House of Dracula.

Honestly, unless you can find these discs for about $10 each, you'd be better off grabbing the Legacy set than trying to find these discs individually. You can get the Legacy set for about $50 shipped with Share The Love at Amazon.

DVD Josh

Thanks for the info bbo. Is there a Mummy set expected? Are there any new special features that aren't on the original CMC release?

ThatGuamGuy

"Expected" is a good word for it. There hasn't been any official word, but the general consensus seems to be that, barring horrible sales on the upcoming horror wave, The Mummy movies will be in the next horror wave, along with The Creature From the Black Lagoon series (three, I think) and the five Invisible Man movies. (Those last two are notable in that neither has ever been released on DVD beyond the initial film in the series.)

I'm not entirely sure; the way they worded the initial announcement, it seemed like they'd have some of the old docs [though the 'Bride' doc doesn't seem to be there] and each set would have one new doc also. But I'm not 100% on that, so let somebody else confirm it.

DVD Josh

So essentially, through these two waves, I can get everything and more than the Classic Monster Collection. Durn.

ZackR

Except that I think a lot of the supplements from the Classic Monster Collection won't be brought over to the new discs ... though I may be wrong on that.

Wannabe

"Speculation" is the more appropriate word.

W-Mans

yup.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=6492

darkside

Universal's website lists all the extras from the first set in the upcoming Legacy discs (except for a 7 minute wolfman photo gallery), so hopefully no supplements will be lost on this release or any future one.

DVD Josh

Now the bonus question - do any of the sequel titles live up to their parent?

kingtopher

Absolutely, at least for the Frankenstein films, some of the sequels are better than the original. But most of the films on all three sets are worth owning and seeing, especially for the low price these are being sold for.

ZackR

Cool. Glad to see I was wrong on the supplements. Now, will there be any reason to buy the new releases if one already has the old ones??

bboisvert

Depends on the series. Bride of Frankenstein is about a good of a sequel as you can get (and in many ways improves upon the original). Some of the other Frank films are watchable. Dracula's Daughter is not bad.

Then you get some of the Mummy movies, which are downright terrible.


You can ask 20 different people and get 20 different responses, but -- in my opinion -- most of the sequels are OK, but do not live up to their parents. But they're watchable, and a decent 'bonus' to people buying the sets. For to get all of these films for $50 with supplements is a pretty damn good deal, so you won't hear too many people complaining if they find that Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man isn't cinematic gold.

chesola

You would need to get the Dracula Legacy set to get House of Dracula, which wasn't released with the previous set.

EPKJ

I suspect that more collections will be out around Halloween. The Mummy, Invisible Man, and Creature films could be out then.

JasonF

Not quite -- you'd be missing the Phantom of the Opera.

Scot1458

No. Bride of F comes close, but I still love the original more.

The good news is that most of the Frankenstein sequles are quite good, as are Dracula's Daughter and the two Wolf man (one sequel, one prequel) are not too bad.

The other Dracula films and the Mummy films are downright horrible. Can't comment on the Invisible man ones.

DVD Josh

I prefer the Image Ultimate Edition silent (not the same movie, I know...)

MISS PEACH

YES! The only one I'm waiting for, CLAUDE RAINS (1943) . . .



PEACH

W-Mans

Prequel?

EPKJ

I think that he mistakenly believes that Werewolf Of London is a prequel. In fact, it is an unrelated film covering the same topic.

bboisvert

These routinely sell on eBay for about $15-20 (less than original retail). Not much reason to wait...

Scot1458

It was a previous werewolf film to Universal's gem. Didn't mean it had anything to do with the story. Neither does the She Wolf though.

EPKJ

I actually like Werewolf Of London. It was a childhood favorite.

ThatGuamGuy

I think 'Bride' is much better than the original 'Frankenstein', but I was disappointed by the later ones.

Hey, does anybody know if there's gonna be any of the "lost" footage from 'Frankenstein vs. the Wolf Man' where Bela Lugosi (the monster) talks?

I disagree, I think that if Universal were to announce tomorrow that they weren't going to release the Mummy box, the Creature box, and/or the Invisible Man box, you'd have a lot of people on here saying how unfair they are and how badly Universal treats its fans, because they *expect* the movies to be released.

But thanks for the "input".