Over at the Classic Horror Film Board (no relation to Classic-Horror.com), Jim Clatterbaugh reports that he spoke with a representative over at Universal, who stated that the studio had no plans to release classic horror DVDs this year (excepting the upcoming Special Edition of The Mummy). Apparently, it's past the time to begin planning such a release, as they are already working on their 2009 schedule. Even more disheartening is the reasoning: classic "library" titles are a hard sell and getting harder as the DVD market becomes more and more glutted.
Please bear in mind that this news is based on a conversation with a studio representative and not taken from any sort of official announcement. Further, by reporting on the absence of something, we are setting ourselves up to be proven very wrong -- in which case we would be more than delighted.
Still, it makes me kind of sad. I had some hopes that Universal would eventually release some of their Paramount Horrors on DVD, even as a Best Buy-exclusive. Titles that remain unavailable in an official DVD release include these Paramount titles:
Murder by the Clock (1931)
Island of Lost Souls (1933, a personal favorite)
Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Supernatural (1933)
The Monster and the Girl (1941)
The Uninvited (1944)
These Universal-made thrillers are similarly unavailable:
Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)
The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Jungle Woman (1944)
Jungle Captive (1945)
House of Horrors (1946)
The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
Curse of the Undead (1959)
With DVD release companies tightening their budgets and cutting out the older titles to make way for re-releases of proven sellers, one hopes that another solution will present itself so that Universal can continue to make a profit and classic horror fans can continue to feed their habit.
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A shame indeed
annoying
Agreed, Dain. I have some of
Agreed, Dain. I have some of these via older VHS releases or copies taped off of TCM, but it's a real shame that Universal's choosing to distance itself from horror more and more. They just sold off Rogue Pictures to another company, in fact. Really annoying.
Nate Yapp
Editor-in-Creep
Classic-Horror.com
"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"
This angers the crap out of
This angers the crap out of me! Theyre beyond stupid!! If their reason is they dont sell, then why the hell am I seeing some of their older out of print titles including some MGM Midnite Movies going for asinine amounts of money on ebay and we're talking completed auctions here, ones that sold!!!!!!! I guess youve heard about the pristine lavendar print of Lugosi's Dracula with Edward Van Sloan's additional footage intact that Universal is just letting sit and rot while they rerelease the same old print sometimes cut, sometimes not. They don't give a damn do they, they really don't? Honestly there is NOTHING absolutely NOTHING Universal has thats of any interest to me whatsoever except their classic library. I didnt mean to come across so strong or angry here but I'm just so freggin fed up with them!!!