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Universal Monsters

post #1 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:19pm
Thread Starter 
I don't mean to rip off the Hammer Horror thread, but I've always gravitated more towards the Universal versions of the classic monsters. So I've decided to break out my Legacy Collections (A.K.A. The best thing to come out of Van Helsing), to lead up to Halloween. A couple of quick thoughts:

Dracula is terrible, and is outclassed in about every way other than Lugosi by the simultaneously filmed Spanish version. It's dull and the second half of the film feels like someone set the camera on tripod to film a stage production of the story. And it has David Manners in it.

If I were going to pick a favorite of the original non sequels, I think it would have to be The Invisible Man. I've always thought this should get a little more credit as one of the great early horror/comedy films, as it has a pretty wicked sense of humor, and their is nothing more horrifying than Una O'Connor's scream. Claude Raines is incredible in this as well, especially considering we don't get to see his face until the end of the film.

I'm actually looking forward to the rest of these quite a bit as I haven't seen a lot of the sequels outside of the Frankenstein films.
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post #2 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:21pm
Anyone heard about BluRays of these? While unpacking I came across my Legacy sets and was wondering if an upgrade was coming.
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post #3 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Long View Post
Dracula is terrible, and is outclassed in about every way other than Lugosi by the simultaneously filmed Spanish version. It's dull and the second half of the film feels like someone set the camera on tripod to film a stage production of the story. And it has David Manners in it.
Terrible?!? I'm going to go ahead and write off your opinion on just about everything from here on out.
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post #4 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:31pm
Thread Starter 
Terrible may have been an overstatement, as the first half features some decent atmosphere and some nice camera work, which I've heard was mainly done by Karl Freund and not Browning. But outside of Lugosi, I really can't find too much to like about the film.

As for the Blu Ray's, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a release around the time of the The Wolfman.
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post #5 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:33pm
The best Universal version of Dracula is The Mummy.
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post #6 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Long View Post
Terrible may have been an overstatement, as the first half features some decent atmosphere and some nice camera work, which I've heard was mainly done by Karl Freund and not Browning. But outside of Lugosi, I really can't find too much to like about the film.
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post #7 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli View Post
Bah! Dammit! You're right, there are two things I like about the movie. I think someone on the dvd's said if you put Lugosi in a film directed like the Spanish version you would have a pretty great film, and I tend to agree. And Phil is right about The Mummy.
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post #8 of 13
10/13/09 at 2:45pm
I really enjoy the monster mash-ups HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HOUSE OF DRACULA. The films are ridiculous contrived nonsense that bend themselves into logic pretzels just to get all the monsters in one film. Anyone who thinks modern movies are stupider than ever needs to re-watch these retarded little gems.
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post #9 of 13
10/13/09 at 3:14pm
Worth noting that there's already a thread. http://chud.com/forum/showthread.php...ight=universal

And, yeah, Phil is right about The Mummy.
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post #10 of 13
10/13/09 at 3:17pm
Thread Starter 
Oops, didn't look hard enough I guess. Sorry about that.
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post #11 of 13
10/13/09 at 3:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by EvilTwin View Post
Worth noting that there's already a thread. http://chud.com/forum/showthread.php...ight=universal

And, yeah, Phil is right about The Mummy.
And repetitive!
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post #12 of 13
10/13/09 at 4:23pm
Maybe it's because I'm a child of the hyper-active action movies, but I've never had a harder time sitting through a movie than like I did with The Mummy, and it's only an hour and twenty minutes.
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post #13 of 13
10/13/09 at 9:01pm
AMC's Monster Fest used to be the greatest event of the year because they basically just played the whole Universal Monster catalog. And then they switched to slasher movie sequels, and my spirit was broken. But then the Legacy sets came out and my spirit was lifted. I would buy the shit out of some BluRay sets.

I think the Frankenstein series, specifically the first two, is the clear winner in terms of consistent quality, but I always gravitated towards The Wolfman. I think I dressed as the Wolfman at least every other year in my trick 'r treating days. I could watch The Wolfman any time.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is greatness, and should be looked upon with the same reverence as the best of the Monster movies.
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