I would like to hope that Dan Curtis was very aware of the impact he had on young fans of the horror genre. From when he took a chance on a failing daytime soap opera, adding a vampire to see what happened, he never looked back. As a kid growing up in the late ’60s & early ’70s, I was flooded by countless characters, monsters, and other ghastly sites, all thanks to Mr. Curtis. While there as not been a constant stream of his work being released on varying formats over the decades, from VHS, to DVD, and now Blu-Ray, there still have been some that we have yet to see. But thanks to Kino Lober, now only do we get two of the three of his retelling of three classic monsters on Blu-Ray the first time, we also get four films he made for the Late-Night Mysteries series, which all aired in 1974. And if you order them now, they are damn near half price! Both are priced at $39.95 (which is a great deal already with what you’re getting), but now you can get each of them for $26.57! Just head over to Kino Lober by clicking HERE.

For the classic monster set, we get The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968), starring Jack Palance, then Frankenstein (1973), starring Robert Foxworth as Dr. Frankenstein and Bo Swenson as the “giant”, and finally Dracula (1974), starring once again, Jack Palance as the Count. The latter title had been released on Blu-Ray, but not the first two, so that alone is worth the cost. Plus, this set has a ton of extras.

We get introductions to all three films by Jeff Thompson, the author of The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis. For Dr. Jekyll, there is audio commentary by author, artist, and film historian Steve Bissette, as well as an interview with makeup master Dick Smith. For Frankenstein, we get two different commentaries, one with film scholar Rodney F. Hill, and another with actors Robert Foxworth and John Karlen, as well as the ABC-TV Wide World of Mystery Promos. And finally, for Dracula, you get commentary by Mark Dawidziak, interviews with both producer/director Curtis, as well as actor Jack Palance, as well as alternate footage and scenes.

Then we get Dan Curtis’ Late-Night Mysteries, with all four titles from 1974:

• Shadow of Fear, starring Claude Akins & Tom Selleck, with audio commentary by Amanda Reyes, Author of Are You in the House Alone? A TV Movie Compendium 1964-1999.
• The Invasion of Carol Enders, starring Christopher Connelly, Meredith Baxter, and Curtis regular John Karlen, with commentary by Television Historian Scott Skelton.
• Come Die With Me, starring Eileen Brennan, with commentary by Author/Podcaster Dan Budnik and Film Historian Robert Kelly.
• Nightmare at 43 Hillcrest, starring Mariette Hartley, Jim Hutton, and once again, John Karlen, with commentary by commentary by both Film Historians Amanda Reyes and Heidi Honeycutt, author of I Spit on Your Celluloid: The History of Women Directing Horror Movies.