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From April to October 2004, Universal released six boxed sets, dubbed "Legacy Collections," each devoted the one of the studio's classic monsters [Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man and Gill-man (a.k.a. "the creature from the black lagoon")]. On September 2, 2014, Universal is re-releasing each of these six sets in new, slimmer packaging, this time as "Complete Legacy Collections." This boxed set, "Universal Classic Monsters: The Complete 30-Film Collection," is a combination/consolidation of these six re-releases, along with the puzzling inclusion of the 1943 version of `The Phantom of the Opera'. Before I go any further, here is the list of films included, broken down by starring monster: DRACULA Dracula (1931) Drácula (Spanish version) (1931) Dracula's Daughter (1936) Son of Dracula (1943) FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER Frankenstein (1931) The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Son of Frankenstein (1939) The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) THE MUMMY The Mummy (1932) The Mummy's Hand (1940) The Mummy's Tomb (1942) The Mummy's Ghost (1944) The Mummy's Curse (1944) THE INVISIBLE MAN The Invisible Man (1933) The Invisible Man Returns (1940) The Invisible Woman (1940) Invisible Agent (1942) The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) THE WOLF MAN Werewolf of London (1935) The Wolf Man (1941) She-Wolf of London (1946) GILL-MAN Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)* Revenge of the Creature (1955)* The Creature Walks among Us (1956) MULTI-MONSTER FILMS Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) House of Frankenstein (1944) House of Dracula (1945) PARODY FILMS Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) OTHER The Phantom of the Opera (1943) *NOTE: Both `Creature from the Black Lagoon' and `Revenge of the Creature' were originally released to theaters in 3-D. Neither of the 3-D versions is included here. This set strikes me as a prototype by Universal for a similar Blu-ray boxed set which may or may not already be in the works. (Indeed, at least ten of the above films have already been released on Blu-ray.) This latter boxed set may be an inevitability, or yet to be greenlit, with Universal waiting to gauge the reception of the DVD version. Either way, here are the pros and cons of "The Complete 30-Film Collection" as I see them: PROS: - All of the original classic Universal monster movies in the same place for the first time - Takes up fairly little shelf space - Consists entirely of single-sided discs, unlike the double-sided discs in the problem-plagued `04 Legacy Collections - The informational booklet contains the exact release dates of the films, so you can watch them in the order of release without having to do time-consuming research (they are also listed in chronological order on the back of the box) CONS: - Not available on Blu-ray - Nothing new added (special features, et al.) vis-à-vis the Complete Legacy Collections (or, so far as I can tell, vis-à-vis the original Legacy Collections) - 3-D versions of `Creature from the Black Lagoon' and `Revenge of the Creature' not included - The largely unremarkable (and not especially "monstrous") 1943 version of `The Phantom of the Opera' is included, beating out more resonant offerings like `Island of Lost Souls' (1932), `The Black Cat' (1934), the Ape Woman trilogy (1943-1945), or even the original Lon Chaney version of `Phantom' (1925). In summary, this boxed set appears to be a curious stepping stone between the Legacy Collections of a decade ago and a future Blu-ray "ultimate edition." To anyone who already has the Legacy Collections ('04 or '14), this set is redundant, while to anyone who is waiting patiently for HD, this set feels like a shameless tease. In the meantime, I, for one, am just hoping that "Universal Classic Monsters: The Complete 30-Film Collection" is a portent of even better things to come. Fingers crossed....