Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it for the head busts, not for great quality DVDs., May 4, 2004
The head busts have a great likeness to the classic monsters and are good items for avid monster movie collectors. However as far as quality DVDs are concerned, this is a step back for Universal. In some cases the picture and audio quality is worse than in the previous editions! Like in Dracula, no picture clean up has been done, and as far as audio is concerned, it hisses and it is noisier than before, and his groans at the end are missing! Why? They were there in the last DVD edition; and in the previous edition a section of music was missing during the opera scene! Couldn't they have gotten it right this time around? Why on the Frankenstein disk do they pause the end credits? That's just strange to me. Compression artifacts are visible on disks with more than one film. The Laserdisc and video versions released in the 1990s had better audio and picture quality (at least no audio was missing from Dracula). This is disappointing because the studio has done nothing to give us superb quality that these classic films DESERVE.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Son of "Careful...the Sequel" or The Curse of the Naysayers, June 14, 2004
By A Customer
My third review of this set. Amazon was kind enough to have replaced my defective set prior to my returning it. This proved to be helpful and my thanks to Amazon; perhaps others with defective sets can take a tip from my experience.
The replacement set was in much better shape, as least as concerns the quality of the disks themselves--all disks were secure this time. Alas, at least one disk is--predictably--defective: it freezes. However, I can qualify "at least one" due to the fact that because I'd watched the unscratched disks in the first set, I was able to swap its non-defective ones with their equivalents in the new set without having to undergo the arduous task of a second viewing. I noticed that some of the slip covers in the new set were damaged and I switched those as well. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck with one defective disk (its equivalent in the first set is scratched), but now is the time to thank the Amazon reviewer who kindly shared the knowledge that Universal will replace individual disks (these are the kinds of reviews I like). I have yet to hear back from Universal, but it would be nice to not bother standing in line at the Post Office yet again for the sake of one disk that might again prove to be defective. Kudos to that helpful reviewer, to the reviewer who tipped us off about the protruding plastic on the bases of the cases (they're not as bad now, BTW) and to Amazon for being so professional--hisses to Universal for their "penny wise, pound foolish" policies; I'd think twice about getting on rides in their theme parks.
And writing of reviewers, I was rather disturbed at the number who seemed to think that those who've found this purchase an unsatisfactory experience (and c'mon, guys--there are a LOT of us) are a bunch of whiners simply because their own disks LOOK okay (one of my particular favorites was from someone who is presumably an alumnus of the same business school that hosted the current crop of Universal execs--I liked the way he blithely suggested that those of us with defective disks "please be quiet!" and return just the affected individual sets to Amazon, obviously ignorant of Amazon's policy to return complete boxes only, presumably for inventory control purposes). Fellow Amazon reviewers, defective merchandise is a LEGITIMATE basis for complaint, especially when it seems to be the rule rather than the exception; can any of you count? While it's not generally my nature to wish ill, I sincerely hope that these particular reviewers' disks come to display the same problems that so many of us are having, and not just when the moon is full. Their attitudes were mean-spirited, especially given that we were trying to warn future purchasers of what they could probably expect.
As to the box in its entirety, I've now viewed--with the exception of House of Dracula, which was the affected film--all the films (sans commentaries) and all the extras. The sound on Dracula was terrible and there's that issue of the abbreviated death groans (I was lucky enough to find a used copy of Universal's original release which is much better). I covered Frankenstein and "Bride" in my second review, and as to the rest, I'd have to say that I have no complaints. Yes, Universal probably could've done a better job of restoring everything, but the newer films are, predictably, in better shape and nothing in this set was a big-budget production anyway. The sound was fine and the documentaries were very informative and entertaining. The trailers often seemed to cut off rather abruptly (maybe the best source material available?) and Werewolf of London, which was REALLY fun and quirky, BTW, had no final credits. This struck me as a bit odd because all the other films had them and it seems to have been Universal's practice to include them ("A good cast is worth repeating."). I didn't mind the Van Helsing plugging because it was optional, and if its inclusion kept the price down, more power to Universal for doing something right for a change. As stated in my second review, the menus are first-rate and in addition, everything can be fast-forwarded except the introduction to the Spanish Dracula; it can, however, be skipped.
I realize I'm looking at this as a "civilian," but it seems as though it would have been so easy to have made this an almost-perfect set. My current rating breaks down as follows: four stars for the busts (refer to my first review) and the material and its restoration and set-up, and no stars for its being such a colossal pain in the posterior to try to get a complete set that plays properly. If it's indeed true that Universal will replace individual defective disks and you don't mind the possibility that some of the slip covers/inserts might be slightly damaged (I realize that not everyone's as anal as I am), then the set represents terrific value, especially if you don't become annoyed easily. And once again, many thanks to Amazon for their professional and courteous handling of this mess (this can't be easy for them) and to the reviewers who took the time to offer constructive advice.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The scariest thing about this is the packaging!!!!, July 20, 2004
Somewhere down the list one reviewer said everyone giving this set a bad rating was merely whining. Angry would probably be more accurate. I exchanged sets three times before finally finding one that contained discs that were all playable (though even that set had three loose discs). Your best bet is to pick this up in a store so you can shake the box and listen for loose discs before purchasing---but even this method isn't foolproof: a friend bought a box that didn't rattle only to find that two of the discs were still scratched and another froze on every single DVD player he tried it in (six DVD players, just for the reviewer who said everyone with defective discs actually had defective DVD players).
As for the quality, the films are washed-out and nowhere near as crisp as the original DVD releases. The busts are cool, but the packaging is done in the funky green tint without reprinting the great original posters in color. And as everyone has pointed out, Drac's death groan is gone, and that alone should turn away all serious horror buffs. And you still have to buy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein to complete your collection (just as I had to buy this set to complete my collection since this is the first time House of Dracula has been released on DVD).
Yes, the price is low, but I would have been willing to pay more to get these classic movies in the the condition they deserve to be in. What I did was pay 60 bucks for a glorified Van Helsing trailer.
The Mummy, Creature From the Black Lagoon, and The Invisible Man all get their Legacy treatment on Oct. 19. I hope Universal has learned its lesson and doesn't send out more rush-jobs!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Richard Carlson
DVD ~ Ilona Massey
DVD ~ Bud Abbott
DVD ~ William Shatner
on 
