Monster Blu-ray Set in Time for Halloween

Unless you shop at JB H-Fi, you may be unaware of a fantastic Blu-ray set Universal Pictures has released of its classic monster movies.

It’s essentially the same content, only remastered in HD, that was released about 10 years ago on DVD featuring Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera, The Invisible Man and Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Boris Karloff does double-duty as Frankenstein and the Mummy while Claude Rains is not only The Invisible Man and The Phantom of the Opera but also papa to the Wolf Man.

Dracula’s Bela Lugosi turned down the part of Frankenstein because it wasn’t a speaking role but went on to play him in Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (ironically he starred opposite Lon Chaney, the original choice for Dracula).

If you’re a trivia freak, then these discs will really get your heart racing.

Each is packaged with a commentary and a making-of documentary that, in most cases, are as much fun as the movies they celebrate (did you know 1954’s Creature was inspired by an anecdote at an Orson Welles dinner party?).

A couple of the commentaries are too earnest and academic — the campy Bride Of Frankenstein a masterpiece to rival Citizen Kane? — but all breathe new life into shadowy sensations that, at their height, should have seen Universal dubbed Monsters, Inc.

Among the content exclusive to the Blu-ray is a Blu-ray 3D of Universal’s first foray into 3D, Creature.

Univeral Monsters: The Essential Collection appears to be a JB H-Fi exclusive until mid-December, for $96 — which is cheaper than the $US140 Amazon.com wants but frightfully more expensive than Amazon.co.uk’s £36.