With the odds being good that I'll only be able to afford one of these this fall, which of the three contains the best films?

Boris Karloff Collection ($30, 3 disc, 5 film on Sept 19)
Tower of London, The Black Castle, The Strange Door, The Climax, Night Key

Hollywood Masters Of Horror ($40, 3 disc, 6 film on Oct 10)
Mark of the Vampire, Mask of Fu Manchu, Dr. X, The Return of Dr. X, Mad Love, The Devil Doll

Icons of Horror: Boris Karloff ($25, 2 disc, 4 film on Oct 17)
The Black Room, The Man They Could Not Hang, Before I Hang, The Boogie Man Will Get You

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated -
Tim

Good question.

#2 has the most movies that I've seen out of those 3 selections. Mark/Vampire is one of the most atmospheric horror films of the era, only tarnished by the questionable ending. And I found Mad Love/Devil Doll quite enjoyable.
Sooooo.....Gotta cast my vote for this set.

I'd offer an opinion, but it would be a mostly uninformed one.

I'll be renting all these platters from Netflix.

I've never seen any of 'em but I'll be getting them all. If I could only get one, I'd probably get Universal's Karloff set.

I'd pick the Hollywood Masters of Horror collection. "Mark of the Vampire" and "Mask of Fu Manchu" both boast one of their respective stars' finest performances, while "Mad Love" is simply one of the finest films of the entire 1930s horror cycle. Besides featuring Peter Lorre in his best performance outside of "M," it also features the fine direction of Karl Freund, who IIRC only directed one other film, Karloff's "The Mummy." While there are interesting films in all of the other sets, and I plan on picking up each of them, none come close to the MGM titles in this set. The one caveat that I'd pick is that the MGM horror films, like the rare Warner efforts, all feature a then-contemporary feeling of a semi-hardboiled jauntiness that doesn't wear as well as the more sedate Universal films.
Best,
Scott