Country: USA
For me one of the most eagerly awaited releases of 2012
was the eight disc Universal Monsters blu-ray box set. It was indeed a
joy to discover that this would be one of the titles put out to celebrate
Universal’s 100th anniversary, and a further joy to be able to
experience Dracula (and its Spanish language variant, both 1931), Frankenstein
(1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Bride of
Frankenstein (1935), The Wolf Man (1941), Phantom of the Opera
(1943) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) in high definition.
Though I must spoil Universal’s horror party somewhat by asking what on earth
were they thinking including their lacklustre and tedious second attempt at
Phantom of the Opera? Surely the sublime dark brilliance of The Black
Cat (1934) would have been a more contextually satisfying inclusion, not to
mention a damn site more entertaining. That aside the collection is pretty much
faultless (the plethora of special features is almost overwhelming) and over
the next few weeks I will slowly work my way through it, and hope to bring you
reviews of all the films. So we begin with the film that gave commercial
impetus to Universal’s appetite for horror, the lukewarm and rather monotonous Dracula.
