As a kid in the early 90's I remember being captivated by the cool cover art of the Universal Monsters "Classic Collection". I know that most of them were renderings of pre-existing stills, but does anyone know who the particular artist involved was? Or if prints can be ordered? On Netflix The Mummy's Curse features the full artwork unhampered by the old VHS size restrictions and it's pretty gorgeous.
Those are great! Thenks for sharing. Kind of makes me regret selling off my set when I upgraded to DVDs. I might have to start a VHS collection just for these.
Everytime i see those VHS tapes in pawn shops house sales or flea markets even though i can see the film in another format, i am tempted to buy it just for the classy covers as a collector's item.
These wonderful covers prove to me once again what class Universal had and it angers me that the folks in charge over there nowadays treat the Universal heritage so badly. When I look at my DVD collection and the series I love, I quite often go: "Of course Universal". The great stuff they made, whether it be the old horror series, "Kolchak" or "Knightrider", they gave so much to spark the imagination and filled so many hours with top notch entertainment...................... and they treat their DVDs and music productions so badly.
Those VHS covers are a bit like the great Aurora model kit artwork. Wouldn't be surprised if the artist was emulating or was at least inspired by it.
Here's a few I found. I even found some for the Abbott and Costello films.
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) The Invisible Man (1933) The Black Cat (1934) The Raven (1935) Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein (1948) Abbott & Costello meet the Invisible Man (1951) Abbott & Costello meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1953) Abbott & Costello meet the Mummy (1955)
Add these---all minus text---to several hundred examples of the airbrushed art that came out on the old Turner Entertainment/MGM-UA packaging for lasers and tapes in the '80s and '90s for all genres of films from THE MALTESE FALCON to BILLY ROSE'S JUMBO to ANTHONY ADVERSE to ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN and you'd have a gorgeous coffee-table, Harry N. Abrams gift book for the ages.....all full-color (except for the few B+W pieces) and full-page illustrations!
Not only would it bring back wonderful memories of the films for film buffs, but also memories of the films on video for those who collected them, as well.
It would likely have to be done very quickly now, as many of the originals of this stuff are probably getting scuffed, scratched, water or heat damaged, trashed, or lost. Sadly.
They are okay but too smooth for my liking. The Aurora model kit box art and the old Ackerman magazine covers are still the ones to beat, and remain unbeatable.
A few years ago I purchased the Universal DVD box of "classic monsters", and it came with these three plasticky (excuse me: resin cast) miniature busts:
I never bought them but my brother did. Which was sort of weird because he's not really a memorabilia kind of guy. As I recall he got the DVD/bust set super cheap at Costco. I guess that was why.
About 15 years ago or so, I bought up a few of the 12" articulated figures. Really beautiful detailing on them. "London After Midnight", "The Wolfman", etc.
Add these---all minus text---to several hundred examples of the airbrushed art that came out on the old Turner Entertainment/MGM-UA packaging for lasers and tapes in the '80s and '90s for all genres of films from THE MALTESE FALCON to BILLY ROSE'S JUMBO to ANTHONY ADVERSE to ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN and you'd have a gorgeous coffee-table, Harry N. Abrams gift book for the ages.....all full-color (except for the few B+W pieces) and full-page illustrations!
Not only would it bring back wonderful memories of the films for film buffs, but also memories of the films on video for those who collected them, as well.
It would likely have to be done very quickly now, as many of the originals of this stuff are probably getting scuffed, scratched, water or heat damaged, trashed, or lost. Sadly.
Funny that you brought up MGM. Here's two variations of The Wizard of Oz that were used as VHS artwork. Yes it would be nice to have all these home video artworks preserved for collectors. Also if anyone else finds any more logo free versions of the Universal Monster covers please post!! Tryin to collect as much as I can!!!
Found a few more including larger copies of Dracula's Daughter and Mummy's Curse as well as an unaltered copy of Island of Lost Souls.
Island of Lost Souls (1932) Werewolf of London (1935) Dracula's Daughter (1936) Son of Frankenstein (1939) (2 versions) The Invisible Man Returns (1940) The Invisible Woman (1940) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) Invisible Agent (1942) The Mummy's Tomb (1942) Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943) Son of Dracula (1943) The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) The Mummy's Ghost (1944) House of Frankenstein (1944) The Mummy's Curse (1944) House of Dracula (1945) Revenge of the Creature (1955) The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)
Seeing all those great covers makes me want the Universal horror sequels on Blu-ray even more. Just think, no HD Son Of Frankenstein yet, in fact a Frankenstein sequels set would be interesting as the creature is played by a different actor in each film. Son/Karloff, Ghost/Chaney, Meets The Wolfman/Lugosi & House/Strange. Bring 'em on!
Universal are actually releasing a 'complete' 30 film DVD box set of the Universal Monster films in September. Reaction to this so far has been mixed particularly because there isnt a BluRay set. Now I dont have a BluRay player but I can understand why people are upset by this. What's also annoying is a lot of the films will be repeated in the set. For example Frankenstein meets Wolf Man will be part of the Frankenstein bundle and Wolf Man bundle. But it still looks to be a cool set even though most of it has been released previously.
