Blahray audio comparison posts made so far: Dracula: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Dracula%20%281931%29 Frankenstein: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Frankenstein%20%281931%29 The Mummy: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Mummy%20%5BThe%5D%20%281932%29 Bride of Frankenstein: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Bride%20of%20Frankenstein%20%281935%29
Funny, I was going to ask if you had stumbled upon Blahray yet. Wouldn't surprise me if you were regularly contributing to his research as well! I've got many Beta tapes (not the Universal Monsters unfortunately), I'd be very curious to see how they compare to some of the releases he's tested.
Keep up the good work on these reviews. I'm sick to death of people reviewing 4k's and not really understanding the back history of these releases. What I find fascinating about your reviews is in depth discussion that looks at every angle of each release. I often have to watch your reviews again because its loaded with detail and thoughts Crusader. It's just refreshing to have another perspective on YT with past physical media history, not just someone being like everybody else and spouting off how good something looks without understanding what's behind the transfers and other technicalities. I'm looking forward to many more intriguing reviews for 2024 Crusader.
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that. I try to cram in every aspect of note in a review. Hopefully my timestamps help if you need to go back and reference something later. You can't tell that I make reviews and cover everything in detail specifically because of years of frustration at what passes for most "online reviews"....
@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I was wondering what your opinion on the Natural Born Killers 4K release was. I personally think it was a great release as it finally restored the song Burn to the theatrical cut as well as the directors cut(even though it was spliced in kinda poorly). But I was wondering if you might have some thoughts about it replacing the original drum track in the directors cut and putting in Burn in place instead.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I highly recommend the release if you are interested in buying it. It's very close to being a 9 or 10 release in my opinion and is one of Shout's best releases of 2023.
I am 53. I grew up staying up late to watch the Universal classics. I grew up in CA in the 70's for 3 years. Back then, the classic monsters were everywhere in the park. Walking around taking pictures with visitors. I subscribed to your channel. How could I not go on a damn fool crusade!! May the Force be with You.
I still remember buying my first universal monsters VHS at Suncoast video. Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man. That movie was my hook at the ripe age of 9 and I have been a fan ever since.
Yes!! My first copies purchased were a used copy of The Mummy on VHS and the 1999 DVD of Dracula. Those were what hooked me first and then came Bride of Frankenstein which cemented it.
Thank you so much for mentioning the frustratingly long dupe sections in “Creature.” I was sure I was never going to see or hear anyone else mention it. Once the first one occurred, I spent the rest of the film waiting for the cut back to a non dupe source after each transition and grew more and more frustrated when whole scenes would go by. I couldn’t understand it. I think I wound up yelling at my TV a few times. Considering the later production date and other factors, “Creature” should have benefitted the most visually from a 4K presentation, so I was so disappointed that they released it as is. Not knowing what source limitations they dealt with, it felt so lazy to me, letting whole scenes remain unfixed, where it stands out all the more in 4K.
At first I thought I was going nuts-I was like I don't remember there being such GIANT dupe sections everywhere, is it just me?!?!?!? Then it wasn't brought up in reviews and I was scratching my head. You keep sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting for the changeover and NOPE-still dupe. The Creature films always get mucked up somehow. I REALLY hope they fixed the giant 3D problems of the BD and the Revenge 3D restoration they fubared. I'm still confused for example why the Universal 4K master of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN on the Criterion BD looks so bad. That master almost looks like 100% dupe if honest now that I think about it!
Lots of excellent points here. I’ve been enjoying these movies frequently on my OLED and while not perfect, they are vast improvements over the old blu-rays in many ways. My main point of frustration was the packaging, so I ended up adding the 4K discs to the 30-film collection and stashing the older blus away. Can’t wait to own my fourth copy of Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein when they do the eventual 4K release 😂
Thank you! Yes, it's very much a giant visual improvement but with the drawbacks of the HDR presentation. It makes perfect sense to just substitute the UHDs into the Legacy BD sets. Universal to fans: You get a copy of A&C Meet Frankenstein! And you get a copy of A&C Meet Frankenstein! You also get a copy of A&C Meet Frankenstein!
Criterion collection or Arrow is your best bet for new HDR discs, That is Universal is willing. (Then again they just gave Psycho 1960 to Arrow so there might be a chance.)
Superb! I could have listened to you talk about this for another 90 minutes easily. I bought the original 8-disc DVD set, then all the Legacy DVD sets, then the UK blu-ray set of the original 8 films, then all the Legacy collections on blu-ray. I'm holding off on buying them on 4K until they reissue the Legacy sets, or a Complete Collection 4K set. Great video.
Thank you!! (I could’ve easily gone longer on these as their transfer histories seemingly never end in terms of variations!) you would think that universal would make bigger sets or a complete set but I don’t know that they’re going to. They seem to like doing these volume sets in random order and this is exactly the same thing they did on the Hitchcock films. So I would suggest just picking these up the next time they go on a big sale.
Great video Spencer, I ended up getting the 4k Australian release last year, it has all the films in one volume the packaging is one box no evelopes is combined the volume 1 and 2 artwork no blu rays or digital downloads. This my third time buying them over I have 30 movies collection of the DVD and blu ray boxes both don't need any more extras blu rays only 4k UHD.
I owned the complete set already so I waited for the individual slipcover releases. I did the same with the Hitchcock sets. I despise that packaging, and I enjoy having all of my UHD titles being individual. Nothing against boxsets, just a preference.
Hi There, as usual great review. The HDR is less of a problem for me because i have a projector, the JVC-N5 with pretty solid and organic tone mapping for HDR. So these issues are invisible to me because the projector cannot go that bright in those areas… It‘s interesting that in the US you get these funky booksleeve packages… never seen these in Germany… With Hitchcock i got a great digipak for all 3 collections which are beautiful. With the monster classics vol1+2 we got boring plastik and for the first volume 4 seperate 4k steelbooks as well. BTW Have you seen the 7 Steelbooks with the Alex Ross design? They are beautiful to look at and i am using these now for my 4k discs… Next up for me i‘ll be working my way through those legacy collections… never seen any of those… Keep up the great work!
A buddy lent me his 4k sets and I watched a couple of these (FRANKENSTEIN and Bride of...) on my Sony X800 (HDR to SDR converted) on my projector and they looked fine. I wanted to see the new masters compared to the blu-rays. I have all the Legacy Collections on blu-ray and am satisfied with those, but I'll only grab some of these 4K remasters if they eventually sell them individually. I don't watch these very much anymore, so I'll make the 4K upgrade on a few favorites. I don't really like watching THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON series without 3D so it's ridiculous that Universal didn't do the bump on their blu-rays as well.
@@InstruMentalCase some streaming versions, especially Warner titles will have Dolby Vision where the disc does not. Usually it doesn’t make much of a difference as far as I can tell, but it’s crazy that the streaming versions have Dolby Vision when UHDs don’t.
Hi Spencer, love your reviews, full disclosure, I prefer 4k restorations of blu ray overvnative 4k mainly due to my dislike of HDR which seems to always ruin the films Spot on The Godfather Keep up the good fight my friend
Really do not see the point in getting these if you already have the 30-film legacy bluray collection. No new extras, same audio essentially, and messed up HDR? There's no "upgrade" here really. Along with the fact that we dont have all the sequels either, just disappointing. Thanks for the great breakdown yet again!
This is a huge picture quality upgrade overall. And the HDR is not bad really. Dracula is where it is most questionable, but overall the HDR is pretty good here, unless you have very conservative tastes.
This is a big upgrade in the picture quality for the main films. Especially for the cheap sale price it is definitely worth it for that factor alone-but you do have to live with the moments where the HDR causes severe brightness in certain areas. Most people don't seem to be as bothered by it but I did want to stress this factor because I found it objectionable. Otherwise these are gigantic leaps in picture quality. Everything else is essentially the same as the BDs. So it's just a picture quality upgrade.
Random news: Arrow goofed in their box set Inside The Mind Of Coffin Joe. The english subtitles for one of the films (The Awakening The Beast) disappears after around 30 minutes in. A pity, because otherwise this is already a strong candidate candidate to be among the Top 10 best sets by the end the year.
Spence, Do you really feel the sequels including A&C Meet Frankenstein will not get a 4k upgrade? I do think A&C will probably be the lone title to get an upgrade. Not sure if the original negative still exists. Side note: Quite interesting that the only way to get the trailer for House of Dracula is from the laserdisc.
Considering how often, and in how many collections, they’ve released A&C Meet Frankie, I’d be shocked if they DON’T release it in 4K. I’d love to see it, myself. My guess for the next releases would be “Son of Frankenstein,” “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,” possibly a mummy movie and A&C Meet Franke.
My thinking as well. Vol 3 should be SON, A&C Meet Frankenstein, FMTWM and I'd argue strongly for THE MUMMY'S HAND and THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS. Plus THE INVISIBLE WOMAN and INVISIBLE AGENT because they're underrated gems...
I bought the first 4. 4k Steelbooks. I liked the way they looked and simple B&W. Then was waiting for them to release the 2nd volume being sold with steelbooks this past year. Annnnnnnd nothing. I know if I buy the volume 2 multi or even the individual slip cover releases.. i know they will release the steels. Grrrrrr.
Frankenstein hasn’t had good audio since the ‘90s. RIP David Skal. The 4K of Creature also has a minor bit of dialogue missing in the scene when David and Mark have their fist fight. David’s line “Mark, all we’re interested right is getting the entrance to this Lagoon cleared” no longer has “Mark” even though his mouth still moves.
I heard from a trusted source that Universal doesn't make much effort to restore missing footage in their older films. In The Mummy, I'm not that interested in seeing the flashback to Helen's previous reincarnations. Knowing Karl Freund's animosity towards Zita Johann, he ensured that the footage was destroyed. But I would love to see the scene in the museum where Imhotep shows Helen in a bronze mirror a flashback love scene with him and the princess embracing in a temple. Stills of this scene exist and they are tantalizing. This brief scene would cement in the mind of the audience that The Mummy is a love story first and foremost, and show Karloff play a romantic sequence for the only time in his long career.
I've heard the story that when a fan found the sound discs for Frankenstein it took them years to even want to bother using them to restore the missing audio pieces. I still find it nuts that there's no new extras or attempts to explain missing/cut materials on extras. Some films were entirely restructured and need something on record for fans both new and old alike. I still hope some of the missing footage for The Mummy turns up. I hate how the ending is missing frames and ends so jumpy. The reconstruction edit sequencing on MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE was fantastic and it should officially be available besides Eureka having to include it as an Easter egg. There should similarly be a short extra on DRACULA displaying the scenes that were cut and re-sequenced vs how most of those are still in the Spanish version. The same kind of extra should exist for THE BLACK CAT.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader, I feel the same way about the ending of The Mummy. It's baffling and frustrating why Universal has so little interest in restoration work on these early classics that put the studio on the map.
The picture quality upgrade on the 4K masters is pretty massive over the Blu-rays but the issue is in the handling of the HDR. It sucks to be honest because it’s many steps forward but then several steps backward.
Man, it's just such a shame how film audio is treated. It's a rarity to even get vintage audio to begin with, and when we do, it's usually been given an unholy modernization. At least with music, you can just do your research, track down a flat transfer, and then you're set... with film, it's just so much more difficult to try to sync up an older audio track with your preferred release and do all of this legwork, especially when a big part of the pleasure of physical media is just grabbing the disc and sticking it in.
Absolutely! It's the same situation but completely ignored or not even considered by most vs. music mastering and audiophiles. Once you discover a few examples it is completely gutting. And trying to locate and then sync better options is very time intensive and gets very difficult.
Im curious what you think about them in SDR on 4k as thats how i always watch my 4ks as most tend to be too exaggerated? Not to mention so many of the early ones are just bad in my opinion.
It's tricky because you're always relying on the player to downconvert to SDR which can cause artifacts and other issues. The Panasonic players do the best conversion I'm aware of but usually in my experience on a 4K TV it's not worth doing vs just watching the HDR10 or DV. I should probably try it with some Sony Light Cannon ultra bright UHDs.
@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I would try it as its pretty night and day I would say. I had a previous 4k tv that came out before HDR was more common on them. And upon getting a new TV after it was showing signs of age I was finally able to experience HDR. And honestly it's not for me at all. I've never seen why people act like it's the reason to upgrade. When so often it further exaggerates the colors. I've never seen it used to where I think it looks good. And I personally think SDR 4k is the way to go. Not to mention you can still get WCG with the resolution but not rely on meta data or settings that may or may not have access to all forms of HDR.
@gogeta492 What is your TV? Many TVs are crap at HDR. Also, what HDR looks to do is increase the depth of an image, to make it look more "life-like". The dynamic range is significantly increased from what a film print can do. David Fincher said that an issue with doing a 4K HDR remaster of Se7en is that stuff that used to be a blown-out white in a print is no longer that, now revealing detail such as studio gear that was never meant to be seen. Anyway, home video is already revisionist to optimize for the home video experience, such as scanning from the original camera negatives, perfectly aligning three-color strip Technicolor, and more.
Surely if you use even a mid range native 4k projector ..(prices witch have dropped dramatically over the last few months,were talking under 5 grand)the hdr wouldn't be as bright as projectors are not near as bright as a t.v?now i know with a projector you introduce other problems you wouldn't have to deal with a t.v but i think the size you can reach with a projector makes any losses worth while.
4K projection has come a long way in the past few years but sadly it still usually lags behind 4K TVs in terms of overall brightness and what the formats are designed around. Form everything I've seen and tried I think there's always going to be some kind of difference introduced by going the projection route. However it's very likely tat a projector will inherently combat issues with an HDR presentation that's too bright. A number of reviewers use projection in their reviews and frequently have different findings in terms of the visuals because their system is handling things differently vs a 4K TV.
Been holding off purchasing the complete bluray set for a few years hoping they do a 4k version..not looking good here from what you have in the thumbnail about hdr 😢
Well it sucks to be honest because the picture upgrade is massive on these but the hdr is problematic. I definitely still recommend the new picture masters for the upgrade quality but the hdr is a big drawback.
I have an Epson 4K projector and have never been impressed with HDR, which is probably due to a projector not being able to reproduce it properly. I simply turned off HDR processing in my Sony player and have been perfectly happy with the results. I have these Universal box sets and without HDR they still look wonderful. Regardless, isn’t HDR a form of revisionism? Seems a high quality 4K transfer should be capable of capturing 35mm film close to its original state without having to muck around with its color and contrast.
HDR allows for a greater dynamic range. SDR can’t capture all range from a print. That said, HDR is no more revisionism than restoring from the original camera negatives is revisionism. HDR allows for a far greater dynamic range than any print would have, but all that extended range was extracted from the OCN. But the OCN was never meant to actually be seen. It has more dynamic range and detail than a print, hence why Nolan refuses to scan the OCNs of his films, he demands the scans for home video releases to be made from interpositives. And yet, we have accepted as normal the use of the OCN for restorations of classic movies ever since the beginning of HD era in the late 2000s, as the OCN allows for more detail in the image than you could get on a print. But that's already revisionism. Ultimately, any digital home video transfer is revisionist, and we all have our own personal preferences of how much revisionism should be allowed to optimize the film for a great home video experience. David Fincher, when talking about the restoration of Se7en in 4K HDR he has recently done, talked about the challenges of it. Windows that would be just a blown-out white in a print are now revealing studio gear in HDR, details that were never meant to be seen.
@@matheus5230 Thank you for the info! Like any other transfer element, HDR can be done with or without care. Interesting that Criterion's recent release of The Others 4K was without HDR. I'm guessing the director and/or cinematographer didn't allow it.
@@1165macA lot of what he criticized about the HDR in this review, such as pop-out effect in lamps and glinting off metalic surfaces, is exactly the sort of stuff that HDR is supposed to do, to add more depth and life-like atributes to the image. Dracula goes too far, as even white collar glows to the point it almost seems like a lamp itself, but the other films are far more toned down and balanced, like the people doing the grading were learning how to do it as the transfers went along. But the fact that he considers all transfers to have problematic HDR means that his tastes regarding it are very, very conservative. And that's fine, but it sometimes almost starts to reach a point where you wonder why he doesn't straight-up say he is not a fan of HDR really. I hope I'm not coming across as disrespectful to him or anyone here really. The UHD of Oppenheimer that was released is encoded in HDR, but it's so conservative that it might almost not be HDR at all. Even the atomic bomb's explosion doesn't get very bright.
It's got to be done very tastefully on catalog titles as they weren't designed for it. My issue is mainly when HDR application causes elements to stick out in terms of being too bright or too dark going beyond the original format and photography. That's what I think we see on these UHDs to a degree which I found distracting as these are all films I know very well. The issue with forcing SDR downconversion is that you can potentially introduce artifacts and issues as you're relying on the player to convert the signal which most aren't super good at doing. None of this is an exact science yet so I look at it as a period of growing pains as with any new format. It is disconcerting though to see a growing number of catalog titles now have a new issue tied to modern tech. I like HDR and the idea of it but I am very leery of it being used on catalog titles. I would much prefer being able to use the expanded ranges without running the risk of someone going in and tweaking levels which can start to affect the original compositions.
Despite its classic status, I'm not impressed by the non-Spanish 1931 Dracula. It's supposed to be a Tod Browning film, yet it has none of Browning's fondness for the perverse and the macabre that is so evident in his Lon Chaney films and most flamboyantly and shockingly in Freaks. 1931 Dracula could be the poster child for the bad press early talkies get. It's slow-paced, has hardly any creative use of the camera, no suspense, and Lugosi's performance is far from frightening or menacing. The scenes with Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan are the most compelling in the movie. I suspect Karl Freund is the one and only director of the 1931 Dracula.
Some of the cast said similar things. I do think it is indeed an odd mixture but the edits and restructuring of scenes reduce effectiveness. But as flashy as the Spanish version can be I don’t think it matches the English version. I think Browning had at least a good amount of input however diluted or dialed down it may have been.
@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Can you post examples of what you are calling the HDR brightness issue? Or can you point to a discussion that illustrates this issue? Your description of HDR issues does not seem to reflect how HDR works (but I could just be misunderstanding you). Any online discussion of an HDR brightness issue appears to be singularly unique to this channel.
The problem is more to do with there is no common lexicon that exists for UHD in the consumer space. Who even knows if one exists in the industry. The UHD standard is such a hodge-podge of standards as well. So, perhaps, what Spencer is saying regarding HDR brightness. Is more subjective. But at least he's trying to understand things, and not pretend like a lot of other channels to be an expert. He is giving you an authentic experience with the product, rooted in his vast knowledge of films, and home video formats. There's plenty of discussion over on the Blu-ray forum about brightness/grading issues. HDR heat maps. Sony among videophiles is particularly infamous for their HDR, and their grades have been termed "nuclear" as a consequence.
@@manicpreacher1566 Hi Yes, I love what Spencer does. I am just trying to understand what issue he is describing. I think he has seen the issue in virtually every disc he has reviewed recently but I am unclear what the issue is (and no one else seems to be describing it either). Grading and HDR presentation are two different things. I have the Universal discs, And, for example, Dracula does have some very constrasty sequences (that feature a lot of what appears to be noise but may be grain). But if you turn off HDR, the image looks just as contrasty and noisy. This is grading. Thanks!
![[UA] NAVI vs MOUZ | BO5 | IEM Rio 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CMBYk0cbGoA/mqdefault.jpg)
Blahray audio comparison posts made so far:
Dracula: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Dracula%20%281931%29
Frankenstein: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Frankenstein%20%281931%29
The Mummy: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Mummy%20%5BThe%5D%20%281932%29
Bride of Frankenstein: blah-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Bride%20of%20Frankenstein%20%281935%29
Thank you Spence!
Funny, I was going to ask if you had stumbled upon Blahray yet. Wouldn't surprise me if you were regularly contributing to his research as well! I've got many Beta tapes (not the Universal Monsters unfortunately), I'd be very curious to see how they compare to some of the releases he's tested.
Keep up the good work on these reviews. I'm sick to death of people reviewing 4k's and not really understanding the back history of these releases. What I find fascinating about your reviews is in depth discussion that looks at every angle of each release. I often have to watch your reviews again because its loaded with detail and thoughts Crusader. It's just refreshing to have another perspective on YT with past physical media history, not just someone being like everybody else and spouting off how good something looks without understanding what's behind the transfers and other technicalities. I'm looking forward to many more intriguing reviews for 2024 Crusader.
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that. I try to cram in every aspect of note in a review. Hopefully my timestamps help if you need to go back and reference something later.
You can't tell that I make reviews and cover everything in detail specifically because of years of frustration at what passes for most "online reviews"....
@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I was wondering what your opinion on the Natural Born Killers 4K release was. I personally think it was a great release as it finally restored the song Burn to the theatrical cut as well as the directors cut(even though it was spliced in kinda poorly). But I was wondering if you might have some thoughts about it replacing the original drum track in the directors cut and putting in Burn in place instead.
@@minorityhub I haven't seen the film in a long time. It would be interesting to look at the 4K master and the deluxe LD set.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I highly recommend the release if you are interested in buying it. It's very close to being a 9 or 10 release in my opinion and is one of Shout's best releases of 2023.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
Oh we can definitely feel the pain & frustration pouring through your pores about video/audio/features.
😅
I am 53. I grew up staying up late to watch the Universal classics. I grew up in CA in the 70's for 3 years. Back then, the classic monsters were everywhere in the park. Walking around taking pictures with visitors. I subscribed to your channel. How could I not go on a damn fool crusade!! May the Force be with You.
I still remember buying my first universal monsters VHS at Suncoast video. Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man. That movie was my hook at the ripe age of 9 and I have been a fan ever since.
Yes!! My first copies purchased were a used copy of The Mummy on VHS and the 1999 DVD of Dracula. Those were what hooked me first and then came Bride of Frankenstein which cemented it.
Thank you so much for mentioning the frustratingly long dupe sections in “Creature.” I was sure I was never going to see or hear anyone else mention it. Once the first one occurred, I spent the rest of the film waiting for the cut back to a non dupe source after each transition and grew more and more frustrated when whole scenes would go by. I couldn’t understand it. I think I wound up yelling at my TV a few times.
Considering the later production date and other factors, “Creature” should have benefitted the most visually from a 4K presentation, so I was so disappointed that they released it as is. Not knowing what source limitations they dealt with, it felt so lazy to me, letting whole scenes remain unfixed, where it stands out all the more in 4K.
At first I thought I was going nuts-I was like I don't remember there being such GIANT dupe sections everywhere, is it just me?!?!?!? Then it wasn't brought up in reviews and I was scratching my head. You keep sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting for the changeover and NOPE-still dupe.
The Creature films always get mucked up somehow. I REALLY hope they fixed the giant 3D problems of the BD and the Revenge 3D restoration they fubared.
I'm still confused for example why the Universal 4K master of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN on the Criterion BD looks so bad. That master almost looks like 100% dupe if honest now that I think about it!
Lots of excellent points here. I’ve been enjoying these movies frequently on my OLED and while not perfect, they are vast improvements over the old blu-rays in many ways.
My main point of frustration was the packaging, so I ended up adding the 4K discs to the 30-film collection and stashing the older blus away.
Can’t wait to own my fourth copy of Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein when they do the eventual 4K release 😂
Thank you! Yes, it's very much a giant visual improvement but with the drawbacks of the HDR presentation. It makes perfect sense to just substitute the UHDs into the Legacy BD sets.
Universal to fans: You get a copy of A&C Meet Frankenstein! And you get a copy of A&C Meet Frankenstein! You also get a copy of A&C Meet Frankenstein!
Criterion collection or Arrow is your best bet for new HDR discs, That is Universal is willing. (Then again they just gave Psycho 1960 to Arrow so there might be a chance.)
Superb! I could have listened to you talk about this for another 90 minutes easily. I bought the original 8-disc DVD set, then all the Legacy DVD sets, then the UK blu-ray set of the original 8 films, then all the Legacy collections on blu-ray. I'm holding off on buying them on 4K until they reissue the Legacy sets, or a Complete Collection 4K set. Great video.
Thank you!! (I could’ve easily gone longer on these as their transfer histories seemingly never end in terms of variations!) you would think that universal would make bigger sets or a complete set but I don’t know that they’re going to. They seem to like doing these volume sets in random order and this is exactly the same thing they did on the Hitchcock films. So I would suggest just picking these up the next time they go on a big sale.
Great video Spencer, I ended up getting the 4k Australian release last year, it has all the films in one volume the packaging is one box no evelopes is combined the volume 1 and 2 artwork no blu rays or digital downloads. This my third time buying them over I have 30 movies collection of the DVD and blu ray boxes both don't need any more extras blu rays only 4k UHD.
Mr David J Skal will be missed its a shame he died so young I hope he left without pain R.I.P David
I owned the complete set already so I waited for the individual slipcover releases. I did the same with the Hitchcock sets. I despise that packaging, and I enjoy having all of my UHD titles being individual. Nothing against boxsets, just a preference.
Very understandable. I would've done that myself but the boxes popped up on sale for significantly cheaper.
Hi There,
as usual great review.
The HDR is less of a problem for me because i have a projector, the JVC-N5 with pretty solid and organic tone mapping for HDR. So these issues are invisible to me because the projector cannot go that bright in those areas…
It‘s interesting that in the US you get these funky booksleeve packages… never seen these in Germany…
With Hitchcock i got a great digipak for all 3 collections which are beautiful.
With the monster classics vol1+2 we got boring plastik and for the first volume 4 seperate 4k steelbooks as well.
BTW Have you seen the 7 Steelbooks with the Alex Ross design?
They are beautiful to look at and i am using these now for my 4k discs…
Next up for me i‘ll be working my way through those legacy collections… never seen any of those…
Keep up the great work!
A buddy lent me his 4k sets and I watched a couple of these (FRANKENSTEIN and Bride of...) on my Sony X800 (HDR to SDR converted) on my projector and they looked fine. I wanted to see the new masters compared to the blu-rays. I have all the Legacy Collections on blu-ray and am satisfied with those, but I'll only grab some of these 4K remasters if they eventually sell them individually. I don't watch these very much anymore, so I'll make the 4K upgrade on a few favorites. I don't really like watching THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON series without 3D so it's ridiculous that Universal didn't do the bump on their blu-rays as well.
Random question: Creature is listed on iTunes as being in 4K with Dolby Vision. Is it a different remaster for streaming?
@@InstruMentalCase some streaming versions, especially Warner titles will have Dolby Vision where the disc does not. Usually it doesn’t make much of a difference as far as I can tell, but it’s crazy that the streaming versions have Dolby Vision when UHDs don’t.
David J. Skal, RIP 🌷
Hi Spencer, love your reviews, full disclosure, I prefer 4k restorations of blu ray overvnative 4k mainly due to my dislike of HDR which seems to always ruin the films
Spot on The Godfather
Keep up the good fight my friend
I definitely want to read David J. Skal's biography on Tod Browning. I believe all his other books I have read.
Same here that's the one I haven't read yet. I'm pretty sure I've read most if not all of his printed works.
Really do not see the point in getting these if you already have the 30-film legacy bluray collection. No new extras, same audio essentially, and messed up HDR? There's no "upgrade" here really. Along with the fact that we dont have all the sequels either, just disappointing. Thanks for the great breakdown yet again!
This is a huge picture quality upgrade overall. And the HDR is not bad really. Dracula is where it is most questionable, but overall the HDR is pretty good here, unless you have very conservative tastes.
This is a big upgrade in the picture quality for the main films. Especially for the cheap sale price it is definitely worth it for that factor alone-but you do have to live with the moments where the HDR causes severe brightness in certain areas. Most people don't seem to be as bothered by it but I did want to stress this factor because I found it objectionable. Otherwise these are gigantic leaps in picture quality. Everything else is essentially the same as the BDs. So it's just a picture quality upgrade.
Random news: Arrow goofed in their box set Inside The Mind Of Coffin Joe. The english subtitles for one of the films (The Awakening The Beast) disappears after around 30 minutes in.
A pity, because otherwise this is already a strong candidate candidate to be among the Top 10 best sets by the end the year.
Spence, Do you really feel the sequels including A&C Meet Frankenstein will not get a 4k upgrade? I do think A&C will probably be the lone title to get an upgrade. Not sure if the original negative still exists. Side note: Quite interesting that the only way to get the trailer for House of Dracula is from the laserdisc.
Considering how often, and in how many collections, they’ve released A&C Meet Frankie, I’d be shocked if they DON’T release it in 4K. I’d love to see it, myself.
My guess for the next releases would be “Son of Frankenstein,” “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,” possibly a mummy movie and A&C Meet Franke.
My thinking as well. Vol 3 should be SON, A&C Meet Frankenstein, FMTWM and I'd argue strongly for THE MUMMY'S HAND and THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS.
Plus THE INVISIBLE WOMAN and INVISIBLE AGENT because they're underrated gems...
I agree! Here's hoping!
I bought the first 4. 4k Steelbooks. I liked the way they looked and simple B&W. Then was waiting for them to release the 2nd volume being sold with steelbooks this past year. Annnnnnnd nothing.
I know if I buy the volume 2 multi or even the individual slip cover releases.. i know they will release the steels.
Grrrrrr.
Yeah it's a darned if you do, darned if you don't scenario.
Frankenstein hasn’t had good audio since the ‘90s. RIP David Skal.
The 4K of Creature also has a minor bit of dialogue missing in the scene when David and Mark have their fist fight. David’s line “Mark, all we’re interested right is getting the entrance to this Lagoon cleared” no longer has “Mark” even though his mouth still moves.
Oh geez why does that not surprise me? How in the world do they manage to erase elements and even words of dialogue consistently?
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader one of those great mysteries unfortunately 😞😞😞
Older Panasonic 4K players used to let you dial down the HDR level...
Yeah all the 820 does is thankfully let you turn down subtitle brightness which is blindingly bright on some Dolby Vision discs!!
I heard from a trusted source that Universal doesn't make much effort to restore missing footage in their older films. In The Mummy, I'm not that interested in seeing the flashback to Helen's previous reincarnations. Knowing Karl Freund's animosity towards Zita Johann, he ensured that the footage was destroyed. But I would love to see the scene in the museum where Imhotep shows Helen in a bronze mirror a flashback love scene with him and the princess embracing in a temple. Stills of this scene exist and they are tantalizing. This brief scene would cement in the mind of the audience that The Mummy is a love story first and foremost, and show Karloff play a romantic sequence for the only time in his long career.
I've heard the story that when a fan found the sound discs for Frankenstein it took them years to even want to bother using them to restore the missing audio pieces. I still find it nuts that there's no new extras or attempts to explain missing/cut materials on extras. Some films were entirely restructured and need something on record for fans both new and old alike. I still hope some of the missing footage for The Mummy turns up. I hate how the ending is missing frames and ends so jumpy.
The reconstruction edit sequencing on MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE was fantastic and it should officially be available besides Eureka having to include it as an Easter egg.
There should similarly be a short extra on DRACULA displaying the scenes that were cut and re-sequenced vs how most of those are still in the Spanish version. The same kind of extra should exist for THE BLACK CAT.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader, I feel the same way about the ending of The Mummy. It's baffling and frustrating why Universal has so little interest in restoration work on these early classics that put the studio on the map.
I'm not interested in upgrading to these since I've still got the 30-film collection
The picture quality upgrade on the 4K masters is pretty massive over the Blu-rays but the issue is in the handling of the HDR. It sucks to be honest because it’s many steps forward but then several steps backward.
@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderFor this set though, I would say that the steps forward easily overshadow any step back.
Saddened to hear of the death of David J. Skal. Shocked to hear he was killed, as it appears, by a drunk driver. Tragic.
Absolutely. It was terrible to hear such news.
Man, it's just such a shame how film audio is treated. It's a rarity to even get vintage audio to begin with, and when we do, it's usually been given an unholy modernization.
At least with music, you can just do your research, track down a flat transfer, and then you're set... with film, it's just so much more difficult to try to sync up an older audio track with your preferred release and do all of this legwork, especially when a big part of the pleasure of physical media is just grabbing the disc and sticking it in.
Absolutely! It's the same situation but completely ignored or not even considered by most vs. music mastering and audiophiles. Once you discover a few examples it is completely gutting.
And trying to locate and then sync better options is very time intensive and gets very difficult.
I was under the impression that UHD discs had the same scratch-resistance coating as regular blu rays
They have some but are much more susceptible to damage and playback issues than BD is.
It would be interesting if some day you also review modern movie releases, like Oppenheimer and Across the Spiderverse
🍿
Im curious what you think about them in SDR on 4k as thats how i always watch my 4ks as most tend to be too exaggerated? Not to mention so many of the early ones are just bad in my opinion.
It's tricky because you're always relying on the player to downconvert to SDR which can cause artifacts and other issues. The Panasonic players do the best conversion I'm aware of but usually in my experience on a 4K TV it's not worth doing vs just watching the HDR10 or DV.
I should probably try it with some Sony Light Cannon ultra bright UHDs.
@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader I would try it as its pretty night and day I would say. I had a previous 4k tv that came out before HDR was more common on them. And upon getting a new TV after it was showing signs of age I was finally able to experience HDR. And honestly it's not for me at all. I've never seen why people act like it's the reason to upgrade. When so often it further exaggerates the colors. I've never seen it used to where I think it looks good. And I personally think SDR 4k is the way to go. Not to mention you can still get WCG with the resolution but not rely on meta data or settings that may or may not have access to all forms of HDR.
@gogeta492 What is your TV? Many TVs are crap at HDR.
Also, what HDR looks to do is increase the depth of an image, to make it look more "life-like". The dynamic range is significantly increased from what a film print can do. David Fincher said that an issue with doing a 4K HDR remaster of Se7en is that stuff that used to be a blown-out white in a print is no longer that, now revealing detail such as studio gear that was never meant to be seen.
Anyway, home video is already revisionist to optimize for the home video experience, such as scanning from the original camera negatives, perfectly aligning three-color strip Technicolor, and more.
Please review the exorcist
Surely if you use even a mid range native 4k projector ..(prices witch have dropped dramatically over the last few months,were talking under 5 grand)the hdr wouldn't be as bright as projectors are not near as bright as a t.v?now i know with a projector you introduce other problems you wouldn't have to deal with a t.v but i think the size you can reach with a projector makes any losses worth while.
4K projection has come a long way in the past few years but sadly it still usually lags behind 4K TVs in terms of overall brightness and what the formats are designed around. Form everything I've seen and tried I think there's always going to be some kind of difference introduced by going the projection route. However it's very likely tat a projector will inherently combat issues with an HDR presentation that's too bright. A number of reviewers use projection in their reviews and frequently have different findings in terms of the visuals because their system is handling things differently vs a 4K TV.
Why not do a special on " Kiss of death " ?
Been holding off purchasing the complete bluray set for a few years hoping they do a 4k version..not looking good here from what you have in the thumbnail about hdr 😢
Well it sucks to be honest because the picture upgrade is massive on these but the hdr is problematic. I definitely still recommend the new picture masters for the upgrade quality but the hdr is a big drawback.
So annoying..pity theirs not a simple toggle to switch of hdr@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
Does turning off HDR on TV’s make any difference?
@@hardnineTurn off HDR on your 4K player and use the same settings as you would a standard Blu-ray. These movies still look wonderful with HDR off.
@1165mac as far as i know hdr isnt like a switch that cann be turned off as it incoded into the movie file
I have an Epson 4K projector and have never been impressed with HDR, which is probably due to a projector not being able to reproduce it properly. I simply turned off HDR processing in my Sony player and have been perfectly happy with the results. I have these Universal box sets and without HDR they still look wonderful. Regardless, isn’t HDR a form of revisionism? Seems a high quality 4K transfer should be capable of capturing 35mm film close to its original state without having to muck around with its color and contrast.
HDR allows for a greater dynamic range. SDR can’t capture all range from a print.
That said, HDR is no more revisionism than restoring from the original camera negatives is revisionism. HDR allows for a far greater dynamic range than any print would have, but all that extended range was extracted from the OCN.
But the OCN was never meant to actually be seen. It has more dynamic range and detail than a print, hence why Nolan refuses to scan the OCNs of his films, he demands the scans for home video releases to be made from interpositives. And yet, we have accepted as normal the use of the OCN for restorations of classic movies ever since the beginning of HD era in the late 2000s, as the OCN allows for more detail in the image than you could get on a print. But that's already revisionism. Ultimately, any digital home video transfer is revisionist, and we all have our own personal preferences of how much revisionism should be allowed to optimize the film for a great home video experience.
David Fincher, when talking about the restoration of Se7en in 4K HDR he has recently done, talked about the challenges of it. Windows that would be just a blown-out white in a print are now revealing studio gear in HDR, details that were never meant to be seen.
@@matheus5230 Thank you for the info! Like any other transfer element, HDR can be done with or without care. Interesting that Criterion's recent release of The Others 4K was without HDR. I'm guessing the director and/or cinematographer didn't allow it.
@@1165macA lot of what he criticized about the HDR in this review, such as pop-out effect in lamps and glinting off metalic surfaces, is exactly the sort of stuff that HDR is supposed to do, to add more depth and life-like atributes to the image. Dracula goes too far, as even white collar glows to the point it almost seems like a lamp itself, but the other films are far more toned down and balanced, like the people doing the grading were learning how to do it as the transfers went along. But the fact that he considers all transfers to have problematic HDR means that his tastes regarding it are very, very conservative. And that's fine, but it sometimes almost starts to reach a point where you wonder why he doesn't straight-up say he is not a fan of HDR really. I hope I'm not coming across as disrespectful to him or anyone here really.
The UHD of Oppenheimer that was released is encoded in HDR, but it's so conservative that it might almost not be HDR at all. Even the atomic bomb's explosion doesn't get very bright.
@@matheus5230thanks for this
It's got to be done very tastefully on catalog titles as they weren't designed for it. My issue is mainly when HDR application causes elements to stick out in terms of being too bright or too dark going beyond the original format and photography. That's what I think we see on these UHDs to a degree which I found distracting as these are all films I know very well.
The issue with forcing SDR downconversion is that you can potentially introduce artifacts and issues as you're relying on the player to convert the signal which most aren't super good at doing.
None of this is an exact science yet so I look at it as a period of growing pains as with any new format. It is disconcerting though to see a growing number of catalog titles now have a new issue tied to modern tech.
I like HDR and the idea of it but I am very leery of it being used on catalog titles. I would much prefer being able to use the expanded ranges without running the risk of someone going in and tweaking levels which can start to affect the original compositions.
Why not do " DOA " and " Kiss of death " in one video ? It'd be great.
Despite its classic status, I'm not impressed by the non-Spanish 1931 Dracula. It's supposed to be a Tod Browning film, yet it has none of Browning's fondness for the perverse and the macabre that is so evident in his Lon Chaney films and most flamboyantly and shockingly in Freaks. 1931 Dracula could be the poster child for the bad press early talkies get. It's slow-paced, has hardly any creative use of the camera, no suspense, and Lugosi's performance is far from frightening or menacing. The scenes with Dwight Frye and Edward Van Sloan are the most compelling in the movie. I suspect Karl Freund is the one and only director of the 1931 Dracula.
Some of the cast said similar things. I do think it is indeed an odd mixture but the edits and restructuring of scenes reduce effectiveness.
But as flashy as the Spanish version can be I don’t think it matches the English version. I think Browning had at least a good amount of input however diluted or dialed down it may have been.
@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Can you post examples of what you are calling the HDR brightness issue? Or can you point to a discussion that illustrates this issue? Your description of HDR issues does not seem to reflect how HDR works (but I could just be misunderstanding you). Any online discussion of an HDR brightness issue appears to be singularly unique to this channel.
The problem is more to do with there is no common lexicon that exists for UHD in the consumer space. Who even knows if one exists in the industry.
The UHD standard is such a hodge-podge of standards as well.
So, perhaps, what Spencer is saying regarding HDR brightness. Is more subjective. But at least he's trying to understand things, and not pretend like a lot of other channels to be an expert.
He is giving you an authentic experience with the product, rooted in his vast knowledge of films, and home video formats.
There's plenty of discussion over on the Blu-ray forum about brightness/grading issues. HDR heat maps.
Sony among videophiles is particularly infamous for their HDR, and their grades have been termed "nuclear" as a consequence.
@@manicpreacher1566 Hi
Yes, I love what Spencer does. I am just trying to understand what issue he is describing.
I think he has seen the issue in virtually every disc he has reviewed recently but I am unclear what the issue is (and no one else seems to be describing it either).
Grading and HDR presentation are two different things.
I have the Universal discs, And, for example, Dracula does have some very constrasty sequences (that feature a lot of what appears to be noise but may be grain). But if you turn off HDR, the image looks just as contrasty and noisy. This is grading.
Thanks!