Rating: 
Summary: House of Dracula
Review: In this Monster Legacy Collection, this is the FIRST time that "House of Dracula" has been available on dvd. If you watch this without thinking too much of Bela Lugosi, you will think John Carradine does fine with his enigmatic portrayal of the famous vampire. After all, following Lugosi is a tough act for any actor to follow. The movie itself might be a shade below some of the others in this collection, "Bride of Frankenstein" for example, but it is still rare and pretty well done, with Lon Chaney Jr.'s tormented Lawrence Talbot finally being cured of his lycanthropy in the end. I recommend grabbing this set while you can!
Rating:
Summary: Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf Man on DVD!
Review: I've been waiting for these movies to be on DVD again for a long time! I wanted to buy the out-of-print ones on ebay, but the prices kept me away. I'm a big fan of James Whale's direction and of Karloff and Lugosi so these are a dream come true! 5 'Frankenstein' movies for the price of what one used to cost, plus all the bonus stuff that was included! The same for the 'Dracula' and 'Wolf Man' collections, although 'Wolf Man' has only 4 movies, but I'll forgive them for it. Plus, I love the little busts that Sideshow Toys made perfectly to go with them in this gift set! Get 'em while you can!
Hey, universal! How about re-releasing 'The Invisible Man', 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' and 'The Mummy'? I'd love to see a legacy collection of them, too!
Rating:
Summary: Classic movies...Great Collectibles...Nice Box!
Review: How could you say no to this beutiful DVD collection? Exactly...you can't...unless you don't have 55 bucks to hand over for it. But still that's not a bad price for what you get. Think of it this way: 3 DVDs Estimated to be about 20 dollars each, right? Then you get these three BEUTIFUL busts of three of the greatest characters in movie and book history, and one's of BELA LUGOSI! What better way to honor this great actor than having his greatest movie and a model of his head and chest in the same packaging. On each disk there is more than just one movie...On the Dracula disk there's:Dracula (1931), Dracula's Daughter (1936), Son of Dracula (1943), and House of Dracula (1945). On the Frankenstein disk there's: Frakenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), and House of Frankenstein (1944). On The Wolfman disk there's: The Wolf Man (1944), Werewolf of London (1935), Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), and She-Wolf of London (1946). Also there is a lot of special bonus features, but since I am tired I'm just going to go over what the average stuff is on each DVD...Here it is: Documentaries, Commentaries, but on the Dracula DVD there is a new musical score by composer Philip Glass...So there you go now I'm going to sleep. Goodnight denizens of the dark...Keep watching good movies!
Rating: 
Summary: Universal disappoints again.....
Review: They should skip the figurines and put their efforts into creating better transfers with less compression. These films don't look or sound as good as they could or should, and that's a shame to all the loyal fans of classic Universal horror.Thumbs down. Way down!
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a decent boxed set of the "Big Three!"
Review: Where do I start? The box itself is a delight for the eyes, the DVDs are of good quality, the resin-cast busts are sturdy and lifelike, and the movies are classics. This has been one of my better "deluxe" type editions that I have purchased, and I will keep it forever and watch all the discs many times over. Being a classic Unversal horror fan, this box was a godsend to me. I received all the materials in tip-top condition (my condolences to the one reviewer who had numerous problem with his item). The slipcases are sturdy and fun to examine. The extras, while available on the first printings of the movies, where nonetheless exciting and informative. I appreciated the inclusion of "House of Dracula" and "House of Frankenstein," two of my favorite spin-offs/sequels/"let's keep the franchise going" efforts. If you are into classic black and white, atmospheric horror films, and you don't mind spending a few bucks, this one is highly recommended. Now, what to do with the first-printing single DVDs? Keep them or sell them off?
Rating: 
Summary: Careful...
Review: I haven't bothered to watch any of the material on this collection because I'm not sure yet of how to proceed with the exchange for a non-defective set.
The Amazon reviewer complaints started pouring in AFTER I'd pre-ordered my set, so I kept my fingers crossed. Sure enough, one of the disks in the Wolf Man set had, if you will, "broken loose of its moorings," and was horribly scratched. In addition, the program sheet in the Dracula set was mangled and ripped; it hadn't been placed properly in its sheath. To add insult to injury, I've read reviews stating that, unlike the initial release, Dracula's death groans are missing. And let's not forget the complaints about compression and Universal's negligence with regard to remastering. Tsk, tsk--did they think no one would notice? I now have to wonder if the Van Helsing plugging I've read about is optional, since commercials can't be skipped on Universal's Double Secret Probation release of Animal House.
Go to Universal's website and let them know about your displeasure with their cheeseparing, self-promoting policies. This really is unacceptable; demonstrate your displeasure where it hurts--in their wallets.
For what it's worth, the figurines are great and are what saved this from being a one-star review. If I ever manage to acquire a non-defective set, I'll review the disks with regard to quality.
Rating:
Summary: The True Horror - The Packaging!
Review: I wouldn't have bothered to write a review except I saw some others complaining about the discs slipping loose in the packaging and getting scratched up. I actually didn't even have mine shipped to me, and disc two for Dracula had come loose and was horribly scratched on both sides. (Yes, it is a flipper. Sigh.) Fortunately, all of the movies play perfectly. It seems as though the scratches have only affected the extensive commercials for Van Helsing, (I wouldn't know because I would never watch them in a million years.) Still though, I'll have to go through the trouble of returning this massive box to the store and replacing all of the busts and everything. All 5 of the Drac films are great, and the bonus material (excluding Van Helsing promotions) is pretty nice. So there are no complaints there. However, the Wolfman set is kind of lacking. Werewolf of London is a cool movie even though it has no connection to the Drac/Frank/Wolfman mythos. It's nice to have in the set but She-Wolf of London just sucks. I would have actually preferred to have this movie left off, the disc wouldn't have to be a flipper anyway. As for the Frankenstein set, it's the best in the whole collection. All 5 of the movies are excellent. Don't believe what people say, the "House of..." movies are two of the best. They suffer, of course, because they lack Lugosi in the role of Dracula, which is why Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein should have been included. This set feels incomplete without it. Overall I'd suggest playing it safe and buying each set individually because that would probably be easier to return in the likelihood of a damaged disc. The high quality busts of Karloff, Lugosi, and Chaney are the only reason to take the risk of buying the box set.
Rating: 
Summary: Thank you fellow reviewers
Review: Of course we love these films! But thanks to this forum I was forewarned about the shortcomings of the collection. I went retail for this one (but I am a frequent Amazon cutomer) and here is what I found. At the national chain I went to I lifted and turned many of these boxes and found that MOST of them had discs that were loose inside the packages. I put them back , thanks. The one I brought home was securely in place and worked swell on my player. The lesson learned: listen to Amazon buyers. Now if only we can get the producers and distributors to learn their lesson as well. The price may be great but it becomes distinctly less so when a third of the films are unplayable. Universal, are you listening?
Rating:
Summary: Raise your pitchforks high - the monsters are finally here
Review: The Monster Legacy Collection pretty much speaks for itself. You get 14 Universal monster films, true classics alongside some of the more hard-to-find films, trailers for almost every film, special documentaries on each monster represented here, fascinating commentaries by film historians of the original classics, short features with Van Helsing director Stephen Sommers explaining the influence of the classics on his film Van Helsing (blatantly promotional material I care little about, but the sad fact is that it took the release of the film Van Helsing to convince the powers-that-be to release this long-overdue monster superset), and super-nifty hand painted busts of Bela Lugosi's Dracula, Boris Karloff's Frankenstein's monster, and Lon Chaney, Jr.'s The Wolf Man. It all comes in this fancy box that makes for a great display piece for your newly-acquired treasures. You get five films in the Dracula set: the original Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi (with commentary by film historian David J. Skal), which you can watch with both the original soundtrack as well as Philip Glass' modern score performed by the Kronos Quartet; the Spanish version of Dracula, filmed on the Dracula set at night after the American moviemakers went home - a much longer and technically superior version of the film (Carlos Villarias, however, cannot hold a candle to Bela Lugosi in the title role); Dracula's Daughter (1936) starring Gloria Holden as Dracula's daughter, a woman desperately seeking help to remove the vampire curse that afflicts her; Son of Dracula (1943) starring none other than Lon Chaney, Jr., as "Count Alucard" (an incredibly boring vampire film, if you ask me), and House of Dracula (1945). The final film, a sequel of sorts to House of Frankenstein, features Dracula (John Carradine), Frankenstein's Monster (Glenn Strange) and Larry Talbot aka The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.). I thought Lon Chaney, Jr., was bad as the vampire in Son of Dracula, but John Carradine proved himself to be the worst Dracula of all time. The set is capped off by the documentary The Road to Dracula. The Frankenstein set features five films: the original Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), and House of Frankenstein (1944). The first two films, directed by James Whale, are truly the two best horror films of that era and probably of all time. Scene after scene is etched into our collective unconscious, from Dr. Frankenstein's (Colin Clive) mad jubilation at the "birth" of his monster to the views of the marauding villagers to the final stand at the windmill. No one will ever forget Elsa Lanchester's brief but iconic portrayal of the Bride of Frankenstein's monster, and her portrayal of Mary Shelley in the film's prologue is almost just as memorable. Bride of Frankenstein is as close to perfection as horror movie making has ever come. Son of Frankenstein features Boris Karloff's last performance as the monster, while both this film and Ghost of Frankenstein feature Bela Lugosi in the memorable role of Ygor. House of Frankenstein boasts all three of the Universal monster heavyweights: Frankenstein's monster (now played by Glenn Strange), the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.), and Count Dracula (played by John Carradine - the world's worst Dracula). It also features Boris Karloff in the role of the mad scientist who causes all sorts of trouble. A sequel of sorts to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein is a major disappointment in my eyes; only the Wolf Man character gets a decent treatment in this fun but rather insignificant film. The collection is rounded out by two documentaries, a weird short film, and amazingly informative commentaries for the first two films. The Wolf Man collection is the most eclectic of the three, featuring just four movies, only two of which actually feature Lon Chaney, Jr.s "the Wolf Man." The Wolf Man is, in my opinion, the most sympathetic of the Universal monsters, and Chaney was brilliant in the role of Larry Talbot. The Wolf Man dates back to 1941, followed up two years later by Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man - this film was first and foremost a sequel to The Wolf Man, and it has the distinction of featuring Bela Lugosi as Frankenstein's Monster. Chaney also played his trademark character in House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula - these two films (significant only for The Wolf Man's search for release) can be found on the Dracula and Frankenstein subsets of this mega-collection. The Wolf Man set is rounded out with the documentary Monster by Moonlight; Werewolf of London (1935), Universal's first werewolf film; and She-Wolf of London (1946), a film I really enjoyed, although it differs greatly from the other films of its kind. The three hand painted busts are quite impressive, and they are basically just thrown in to the deal for free; any way you look at it, The Monster Legacy collection is a bargain and a half. I know some have encountered technical difficulties with the disks and problem with the packaging itself, and I must admit that each of my cases featured horrid little bumps of plastic seemingly made to scratch each of the DVDs themselves, but all of my DVDs played flawlessly. The only bad feelings I have about this collection have to do with the fact that it should have been put together and released to all of us Universal monster fans well before now.
Rating:
Summary: No Problem here, Great Bargain
Review: Mine arrived in great order and works fine. I wonder if some of the problems with playing being reported are problems with the DVD players and not the DVDs. 14 movies at 55.00 (about 4.00 a movie)plus the three busts plus all the extras. How could You pass this one by? Amazon will stand behind any defective products, so why worry? Just enjoy the old classics.
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