NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Eureka Blu-ray (March 2022): Eureka have transferred Three Universal horrors, a package entitled Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror, to Blu-ray. We have compared 1941's Man-Made Monster to Shout! Factory Blu-ray as part of their Universal Horror Collection: Volume 3, reviewed HERE. We've dome some comparisons of 1957's The Monolith Monsters to the Universal DVD (reviewed HERE), the Screenbound Pictures PAL DVD and the German Anolis Blu-ray (now out-of-print) - and those three are compared HERE. Lastly, we have also compared the Jack Arnold's 1958 Monster on the Campus to the Universal DVD (reviewed HERE), and the German Koch Media (1.33:1/2.0:1 widescreen) Blu-ray (reviewed HERE.) Eureka have likewise included both ratios in this Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror package. The German 1080P transfers, and Shout! Factory's, were not bad at all and these Eureka renderings come from the same Universal sources with the same marks. I'd give a slight nod to all three Eureka - dual-layered with max'ed out bitrates - in terms of image quality with slightly better contrast, producing the perception of tighter visuals, and they have superior grain support (notably on Man-Made Monster.) The differences will be negligible on many systems but still exist. The bonus content is the larger enticement.

NOTE: We have added 105 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Eureka use a linear PCM dual-mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. Effects come through authentically flat but the majority of the atmosphere and tension leans on the, often dramatic, scores by Hans J. Salter (Man in the Shadow, Man Without a Star, The Killer that Stalked New York, The Strange Door, Cover Up, Man Without a Star, Scarlet Street, The Land Unknown, The War Lord, The Mole People, The Strange Case of Doctor Rx) in Man-Made Monster with compositions by Irving Gertz (The Incredible Shrinking Man, Gun For a Coward, Curse of the Undead, The Leech Woman, It Came From Outer Space, Blonde Ice, Plunder Road, The Deadly Mantis) Henry Mancini (Arabesque, Days of Wine and Roses, Oklahoma Crude, Wait Until Dark, Operation Petticoat, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Experiment in Terror, Charade) and Herman Stein (Horizons West, Six Bridges to Cross, Son of Ali Baba, Man in the Shadow, Female on the Beach, This Island Earth, It Came From Outer Space, War Arrow, Tarantula, There's Always Tomorrow) used in The Monolith Monsters and stock music used by many contemporaries in Monster on the Campus. These always add to the presentation and nice to hear them in clear, consistent uncompressed transfers. Eureka offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The Eureka Blu-ray offers three new commentaries by the pairing of author Stephen Jones and author and critic Kim Newman on Man-Made Monster and Monster on the Campus and by Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby on The Monolith Monsters. On Monster on Campus Jones and Newman discuss the film's loose Jekyll / Hyde representation, the cast - notable females and their history, Jack Arnold, Russell Metty cinematography, similarly unique Cave-man-like monster films and generally they have a good time with their enthusiasm being endearing. On Man Made Monster they talk about the alt-titles ("Man-Made Monster" with the "hyphen" being forgotten in the main title sequence, "The Electric Man", "The Atomic Monster" and "The Mysterious Dr. R", how this was the beginning of the modern Universal monster movie, a lot of Lon Chaney Jr (credited as Jr.- which he didn't like and changed for most of his later career), the actor's Chaney's drinking problems, Lionel Atwill, Anne Nagel and others. On The Monolith Monsters, Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby talk about the uncredited William William Schallert (the weatherman), the film's popularity at the box office - possibly due to the novelty of the 'inhuman threat', comparisons to similar themed horror/sci-fi's, weaknesses and strengths - the former being that the 'creature' really never does that much human damage . They talk about much more including debating Jack Arnold's writing credit. All three commentaries are fun and worth listening to for fans. Included are galleries for glossies and poster art for all three films and trailer for The Monolith Monsters and Monster on the Campus. There is a limited-edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films included in this set by film scholar Craig Ian Mann and a limited edition O-Card slipcase. 

If I don't say it enough, I'm a huge fan of the 40's and 50's science-fiction films. There is no defense of them as 'great cinema' but it's fun to try. If I don't say it enough, I'm a huge fan of the 50's science-fiction films. The Monolith Monsters may be my favorite of the three as there is pragmatic Jack Arnold hokiness and unintentional camp but that emboldens my appreciation. While it isn't a creature-feature per-se it does have extraterrestrial meteorite fragments that expand and kill - so it gets honorary status, IMO. Not only does The Monolith Monsters have Grant Williams - notable for sword fighting spiders in the inventive The Incredible Shrinking Man, but the same "California Medical Research Institute" is cited in both films. Monster on the Campus is another of those quintessential 50's creature features, with weak costuming/make-up and was seeking a new teenage audience and Man-Made Monster can be quite a shocker (pun intended!) I really enjoyed the package and commentaries. Nostalgic fans don't require my endorsement but they have it. They are a notch ahead in a/v over previous BDs and the Eureka Blu-ray set has deserved supplement value. Replay heaven for this reviewer!

Gary Tooze