Product Details

• Actors: Vincent Price, Julie Harris, Wallace Ford, Spencer Tracy
• Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Black & White, Widescreen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Turner Home Ent
• DVD Release Date: September 1, 2009
• Run Time: 375 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002945DUW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,519 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Horror (House of Wax 1953 / The Haunting 1963 / Freaks / Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

HOUSE OF WAX (1953) In the wicked performance that crowned him the movies’ master of the macabre, Vincent Price plays a wax sculptor plunged into madness when an arsonist destroys his life’s work. Unable to use his flame-scarred hands, he devises a murderous way of restocking his museum. Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones and Charles Bronson co-star. THE HAUNTING (1963) Robert Wise directed this first screen version of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn come to the house to study its supernatural phenomena. Or has the house drawn at least one of them to it? “Guaranteed to chill you” (John Stanley, Creature Features). FREAKS Tod Browning (1931’s Dracula) directs this landmark movie – long banned, now highly lauded – in which the true freaks are not the story’s real-life sideshow performers, but “normals” who mock and abuse them. This unique ensemble play big-top troupers who inflict a terrible revenge on a trapeze artist who treats them as subhumans. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941) One man is a paragon of virtue. The other is a murderous creature of the London night. They are the same person. Spencer Tracy headlines this version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale whose visual flourishes include a dreamscape in which carriage horses whipped by Hyde transform into the women in his life (Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'd make just one change..., July 4, 2009

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
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This review is from: TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Horror (House of Wax 1953 / The Haunting 1963 / Freaks / Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941) (DVD)

... and that would be the deletion of the 1941 version of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde and replacing it with the 1932 version of the same film. The 1932 version was made before the production code went into effect and allowed you to see Mr. Hyde in all his debauchery along with Miriam Hopkins as the girl of the street caught in his grasp. The two are available as a double feature in Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Double Feature (1932/1941).

Frea ks (1932) was misunderstood at the time of its release, but is now highly regarded as a horror classic. Director Tod Browning really had a vacuum to fill after Lon Chaney's death ended their successful partnership. This film is an example of his finest work post-Chaney. It is about Hans, a little person in a circus attracted to a beautiful but evil woman who marries Hans for his money and plans to murder him. When the other circus "frea ks" find out about Hans' bride's plans, they extract a cruel but fitting revenge. This film is available in a more deluxe edition that includes commentary. Audiences were troubled by this one when it came out because people with actual disabilities were used rather than actors and actresses in makeup.

The Haunting (1963) is more effective in this version than in the 1999 version with all of the special effects. You actually never see anything in this film - you just hear the sounds and experience the horror of Julie Harris' character as she stays in a haunted house along with a group of people as part of an experiment framed by a psychiatrist. This is currently available separately as The Haunting

House of Wax (1953) is a remake of a precode version of this same film made in 1933. This 1950's version has both advantages and disadvantages when compared to the precode version. The 1950's version has the advantage of Vincent Price as the mad sculptor and a very young Charles Bronson as his brutish assistant. However, the 1930's version had Glenda Farrell as the brassy newspaper woman trying to solve the case of a bunch of disappearances with Fay Wray as the damsel in distress that the mad doctor has his eye upon. The 1950's version has the damsel in distress as the female lead, with no equivalent to Glenda Farrell in sight. You can compare the two yourself by purchasing House of Wax, which is a double feature including both versions of the film. The color on the 1953 version of this film was very "runny" on the original DVD. Let's hope it's been cleaned up some.

If you're really curious about Warner Horror and can stand to spend just a little bit more, I highly suggest Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection (Doctor X / The Return of Doctor X / Mad Love / The Devil Doll / Mark of the Vampire / The Mask of Fu Manchu). Most of the films have commentary in that collection.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Same discs as individual releases, September 10, 2009

By 

Winston Smith - See all my reviews

This review is from: TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Horror (House of Wax 1953 / The Haunting 1963 / Freaks / Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941) (DVD)

For those hoping this new package set would contain remastered prints or new material, look elsewhere. These seem to be the exact same content as the previously released individual editions of each film, except rendered on 2 double-sided discs (This means that the 1933 film Mystery in the Wax Museum, which originally appeared on the flip-side of House of Wax, is not found here, even though they forgot to remove reference to the film from the House of Wax menu screen!)

All films are presented in original aspect ratios (meaning only The Haunting is widescreen). Trailers, commentary tracks and supplemental material from the initial releases of The Haunting, House of Wax and Freaks are carried over here.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful, economically efficient set from TCM/Warner, November 20, 2010

By 

J. Grant "Reviews for the average Joe" (North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Horror (House of Wax 1953 / The Haunting 1963 / Freaks / Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941) (DVD)

Four great movies for the price of about one. Can't beat that. I think most people are familiar with the content here, with the possible exception of Tod Browning's "Freaks", which may be the best of the lot. I do prefer the Frederic March ('32) version of "Hyde", but the '41 Spencer Tracey version has the benefit of getting to enjoy the considerable assets of Lana Turner & Ingrid Bergman. The Haunting is a classic that I seem to watch every year around Halloween w/o it getting "stale". And House of Wax, a classic Vincent Price performance. Its amazing how many people think Price just made horror films, but I've been noticing more & more here lately what a fine dramatic actor he was in non-horror roles, although he usually portrays a villainous character. Now , for all of the people that left 3 or less stars and whined about these movies being already available. Do you really think everybody bought these DVDs when they first came out? I think its pretty clear that the target buyer is the classic movie newcomer and people that couldn't afford to buy the individual movies. You gripe about WB just wanting to make money. Uh, isn't that a priority in running a successful business. Ever hear of capitalism? Four movies at this price is a bargain. I only wish that I didn't already own 3 of the 4 included here.