Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection [Blu-ray]

[Bob]

Yup, my free amazon.com coupon at work spoke to me and said "buy this you classic Universal monster fan!!!!".

I cannot wait for it to get here.

[SJP]

I ordered it earlier in the week, and it still hasn't showed up.  If for nothing else, this, along with Dial M for Murder coming out next week, is exactly the kind of crap I've been waiting for: old 3D movies finally being released without having to use the damn red and blue glasses.  I don't care if the angles and the technology don't add much or go simply for gimmickry, having Creature from the Black Lagoon 3D is a sign that we might finally be ready for in-home House of Wax 3D, Jaws 3D, a proper Friday the 13th Part 3D, and so on.

It may not make the movies better, but at least I get to see them as they were supposed to be seen.  And I hear the remastered Dracula looks awesome for a movies from the 30s, since the last time they remastered it, it looked awful.

[Bob]

From what I have read, the visuals and audios are outstanding.....

[Starman!]

Appearently House of Wax 3D comes out on BD next year. And there was a rumor about the Jaws sequels (including Jaws 3D) coming out on BD but I wouldn't give your hopes up yet for that one.

[losingmydignity]

Is it possible to rent these remastered versions? Does anyone have them for rent/ I'm saying.

[ScottotD]

Do they come with many special features?

[SJP]

It's a mixed bag.  Dracula comes with the most (including the Spanish language version), since it was the most remastered, but every disc comes with at least one featurette.  My copy came over the weekend, and I gave a few of them a glance.

How good does it look?  Well, I sat through Dracula.  I have NEVER sat through Dracula without turning it off or falling asleep, and it really does look and sound amazing, and it has a good 8-minute bit about how they restored the film frame by frame.  It does make me realize how much work goes into any remastering job (and how even ones that look poor aren't always the result of the clean-up crew, but of what source material they derived it from).  But I said earlier I thought the clean-up on the Dracula 75th DVD was terrible...this one by far blows it away.  The sound is cleaner with a lower noise level, the frame jitter has been reduced, the contrast is much more consistent (something that really used to bug me, how the picture would get darker and lighter all the time), and the level of detail really shines.  And Creature's 3D looks really good, sharp and clear with lots of detail.

[Bob]

Do they come with many special features?

Short answer is "yes".   You can go to amazon.com and read the user comments there.......they really go into detail.   

[LucasM]

Do they come with many special features?

Short answer is "yes".   You can go to amazon.com and read the user comments there.......they really go into detail.

Or go here: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Universal-Classic-Monsters-The-Essential-Collection-Blu-ray/35661/#Review for a really in-depth review not only of the quality of the restoration, but of the extras.

Since the content (with the exception of the Dracula commentary by the person who wrote[?] 'Dracula: Dead and Loving It' (which I could do without)) is identical between the sets, only the packaging is different (and I preferred the UK packaging anyway), I bought the UK set from Amazon.co.uk (<=link there is to the set in the UK).  In the US, the US version is over $110.  The UK set - same eight restored blu-ray films - purchased from Amazon UK was only $55.13 including shipping.  And I got it in 6 days.  [I've occasionally had domestic Amazon packages take longer.]

So far I've seen Dracula and the technicolor Phantom.  Both exceptional restorations.  Just amazing.  And, like SJP said, watch the short on the Dracula restoration.  It really is amazing what they did, and how they did it.  I wish there were film-specific restoration documentaries on each of them, but the process is, actually, the same regardless of the film.

[Bob]

I love my set and it looks great.

[LucasM]

I love my set and it looks great.

I'm sure you are, Universal went all out on both the US and UK sets.  They're both gorgeous (as is the French set), and different people prefer different packaging.  I just prefer plastic hubs to the 'slide-in pages' of the US set (like the Planet Earth set has, for those that haven't seen these).  Since I only really wanted four of the films, I also simply wasn't going to pay the price of the US set, so was glad I could get the whole set in my price range.

But yeah, they're all really good looking, packaging and all.

[Space version 2.0]

Ordered the UK set as a "birthday gift" for myself. Normally I am one to compare packaging and base my decision on that, but really couldn't justify the price of the US one so I didn't even look at it.

[Pak-Man]

Out of curiosity, if we don't have 3D TVs, is there an option to watch Creature From the Black Lagoon with red-blue 3D?

[LucasM]

Out of curiosity, if we don't have 3D TVs, is there an option to watch Creature From the Black Lagoon with red-blue 3D?

No.  Just 2D or 'expensive' 3D.