Well, `Collection' is overstating it just a little. Universal made eight Frankenstein movies and here we have just two. But what the hell, they're the pair that matter - the first two and the only ones directed by the great James Whale.

Frankenstein (1931) gave us one of the all-time top movie icons - Karloff's lumbering, pathetic monster, brilliantly created from Whale's sketches by make-up maestro Jack Pierce. And the sequel, The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935), stylishly went one better, upping the production values and adding plenty: sophisticated black humour, Elsa Lanchester's dazzling double act as both the Bride and Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, and Ernest Thesiger's cherishable, high-camp Dr Pretorius. All, as you would expect, presented in gleaming, beautifully transferred prints.

DVD Extras:

Both these discs came out separately last year, and the box just brings all the material together without much that's new. Each movie gets a substantial Making Of doc, plus original trailer and poster archive, and both have well-informed commentaries, respectively by Rudy Behlmer and Scott MacQueen. The Frankenstein disc also tosses in dire contemporary spoof, Boo!The only new element is an intro by Van Helsing director Stephen Sommers, plus a trailer for said movie - this being the excuse for the re-issue. But with classics like these, who needs excuses?