Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 22, 2017

For Universal Pictures, 1931 was a major year of inadvertent franchise launching. While “Frankenstein” eventually made into theaters in November, “Dracula” came first, offering audiences a hit of horror in mid-February, establishing a sense of suspense and devious evening activities that would go on to influence and connect to multiple sequels, spin-offs, and remakes. However, it all started with Bela Lugosi and his special way with menace, with this performance going on to influence the five additional features found on this “Complete Legacy Collection,” which also includes “Dracula’s Daughter,” “Son of Dracula,” “House of Frankenstein,” “House of Dracula,” and “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.”

For a review of "Dracula," please click here.
For a review of "Dracula's Daughter," please click here.
For a review of "Son of Dracula," please click here.
For a review of "House of Frankenstein," please click here.
For a review of "House of Dracula," please click here.
For a review of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," please click here.

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For a video review of "Dracula," please click here.
For a video review of "Dracula's Daughter," please click here.
For a video review of "Son of Dracula," please click here.
For a video review of "House of Frankenstein," please click here.
For a video review of "House of Dracula," please click here.
For a video review of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," please click here.

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For an audio review of "Dracula," please click here.
For an audio review of "Dracula's Daughter," please click here.
For an audio review of "Son of Dracula," please click here.
For an audio review of "House of Frankenstein," please click here.
For an audio review of "House of Dracula," please click here.
For an audio review of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," please click here.

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Dracula

• Dracula: The Restoration (HD, 9 minutes): "The whole point of the process is to not let the viewer know we were here." This look at the restoration of the movie from its original nitrate film and audio elements is an essential one. Every catalog release -- every single one -- should merit a featurette of this sort, if only to demonstrate how challenging restorations are handled. It needn't be long, just as informative and layman-friendly as this one.

• Dracula (1931) Spanish Version (HD, 103 minutes): Lupita Tovar Kohner provides an introduction (SD, 4 minutes) to the Spanish version of the film, which features a different cast rather than a simple dub, and was shot simultaneously with the English-language version.

• Audio Commentaries: Two audio commentaries are included: a traditional production overview with film historian David J. Skal, who reads from prepared notes, and author and Dracula: Dead and Loving It screenwriter Steve Haberman, who also reads his entire commentary. Both are worth listening to, if only for the sheer value of the information provided, but both are dry, wooden experiences more akin to book-on-tape film essays than engaging audio commentaries.

• Alternate Score Track (HD, 74 minutes): Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet provide an alternate (and highly effective) music track for the film, which is ironically more of what modern film fans might expect from the largely scoreless classic movie. Purists may balk, but it's a fun marriage of the new and the old; the only downside being that it's presented via a 192kbps Dolby Digital stereo mix.

• The Road to Dracula (SD, 35 minutes): Carla Laemmle (niece to Universal founder Carl Laemmle) hosts this trip back in time and behind the scenes of Dracula, complete with interviews with film historians, modern filmmakers, and other notable horror notables, as well as clips from a number of films it influenced.

• Lugosi: The Dark Prince (SD, 36 minutes): An in-depth look at the life, career and vampiric contribution of Bela Lugosi, the intense, magnetic actor who defined the horror star of the early 1930s.

• Dracula Archives (SD, 9 minutes): Movie posters, campaign art, production stills and other images.

• Trailer Gallery (SD, 6 minutes): Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Dracula and House of Dracula.

• Monster Tracks (HD): A standard trivia track rounds out the package.

Dracula's Daughter

• A Theatrical Trailer (1:24, SD) is included.

Son of Dracula

• A Theatrical Trailer (1:37, SD) is included.

House of Frankenstein

• Theatrical Trailer (1:41, 480i) - an unrestored, windowboxed trailer that appears to be a re-release trailer. May not be the first trailer that Universal originally ran.

House of Dracula

• Theatrical Trailer (1:26, 480i) - an unrestored, slightly windowboxed trailer that appears to be a re-release trailer. May not be the first trailer that Universal originally ran. Note: Don't watch this if you haven't seen the film as it divulges a major spoiler!

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

• Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters (SD; 33:18) is hosted by historian David J. Skal and offers an enjoyable overview of the comedy duo's interaction with various Universal horror stars.

• Feature Commentary with Film Historian Gregory W. Mank. Mank is scholarly but accessible in this very informative and enjoyable commentary. Some of the commentary is frankly of the "now we're seeing" category, but Mank also provides some unexpected little nuggets, like the fact that animation under the credits sequence was probably done by Woody Woodpecker's Walter Lantz and that Glenn Strange was once the singing voice for John Wayne in some of the Duke's early Western films.

• Theatrical Trailer (SD; 1:40)

Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Obviously, quality ranges from film to film, but the overall thrust of horror remains in these selections from the "Complete Legacy Collection." Although the set features perhaps too many previously issued titles, the inclusion of "Dracula's Daughter" and "Son of Dracula" will appeal to completists, while those new to the ways of the famed vampire have the chance to cover these early adventures for one low price.