These four acclaimed chillers from Republic Pictures are guaranteed to put a tingle down your spine and a smile on your face! THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944) – Erich von Stroheim plays a mad scientist bent on keeping the brain of millionaire William Donovan alive after he removes it from Donovan’s dying body. His assistant (Richard Arlen) serves as host for Donovan’s brain impulses; the lady of the title (Vera Ralston) fights against the monstrous experiment.

THE PHANTOM SPEAKS (1945) – The vengeful spirit of an executed murderer (Tom Powers) enters the body of a physician (Stanley Ridges), and forces him to do its bidding—namely, murder. A newspaperman (Richard Arlen) must unravel the bloody supernatural secret before it’s too late.

THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946) – After a mysterious cat-like creature slaughters people close to him, Parisian Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond) is suspected of murder. Charles fears that he is the beast, but his paramour Marie (Lenore Aubert) and best friend Henry (Douglass Dumbrille) believe he’s innocent…until the Catman begins to stalk Marie!

VALLEY OF THE ZOMBIES (1946) – Long-dead madman Ormand Murks (Ian Keith) once believed that endless blood transfusions would make him immortal. Now resurrected via voodoo, he stalks the city for human blood. A woman (Adrian Booth) falls under Ormand’s hypnotic, vampiric spell.

For thoughts on the Republic Pictures Horror Collection, please check out my thoughts on No Streaming Required:

Video Quality

The Republic Pictures Horror Collection comes to Blu-Ray with four films spread across two discs. While this could be a potential concern, the truth is that these features are pretty short and do not push the discs to the limits of their capacity. These films share many of the same qualities, so I will evaluate them in groups while pointing out significant differences when necessary. The Lady and the Monster, The Phantom Speaks, The Catman of Paris, and Valley of the Zombies all receive new 4K scans courtesy of Paramount, and the results are largely impressive. None of these films represent a flawless effort, but the quality put forth is worthy of praise. While the remastering process may not have caught all of the blemishes, the transfers do not have distracting anomalies.

A nice amount of detail is present with terrific texture on the creature effect and within the thematically appropriate production design. The contrast is capably defined, but the track does reveal moments of density fluctuation in the print. Black levels are largely deep with no noticeable occurrences of black crush or compression artifacts. The marvelous black-and-white photography sparkles in HD with natural grain intact. The grain field becomes intermittently heavy, but all transfers are resolved well. There are seldom moments when anything appears clumpy, swarming, or unnatural. These films are often overlooked within the horror genre, but we are glad someone finally took the time to treat them well. These transfers more than get the job done even with lingering limitations. Kino Classics has put forth a good effort with this one.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with an agreeable DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track for each of these four films that hold up within their capabilities. You will find a trace amount of age-related wear and tear including some faint hissing, humming, and crackles that likely date back to the source elements. The music never overpowers the dialogue or other key information, but it sounds somewhat fragile at its highest peaks. Dialogue and background noises are represented in supreme harmony with all parallel elements. It is a treat to have these films sounding so good relative to how they are usually presented. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included for all feature films.Special Features

Audio Commentary for The Lady and The Monster: Film Historian Stephen Bissette is joined by author G. Michael Dobbs to provide a worthwhile commentary track in which they discuss the history and production of the film, the changes from the original novel, the background of the performers, the career of director George Sherman, the reason for the A-picture budget from the studio, and more.

Audio Commentary for The Phantom Speaks: Novelist and Critic Tim Lucas provides a great commentary track that explores the history of the film, the place it holds within the genre, the performers, the work of John English, the shooting locations, and more.

Audio Commentary for The Catman of Paris: Film Historians David Del Valle and Miles Hunter provide a commentary track in which they discuss where this fits into the horror landscape of the time, the subtext of the narrative, how this compares to other “cat” films, the background of the performers, and more.

Audio Commentary for Valley of the Zombies #1: Film Historians David Del Valle and Miles Hunter provide a commentary track that delves into the historical details, the scarcity of the feature, the careers of the performers, how it compares to other Republic Pictures output, and more.

Audio Commentary for Valley of the Zombies #2: Novelist and Critic Tim Lucas provides the final commentary track which delves into the background of the picture, the tonal balance, the careers of the performers, its legacy, and more.

Sidebar on The Lady and The Monster with Tim Lucas and Stephen R. Bissette: An impressive hour-long discussion with the two film historians about the importance of this horror film including details about the performers, analysis of the story, the legacy of the feature, and more.

Trailers: There is a trailer provided for The Colossus of New York (1:36). There are also trailers provided for The Mad Doctor, The Raging Tide, The Spider Woman Strikes Back, and The Queen of Spades.

Final Thoughts

The Republic Pictures Horror Collection is a fun assortment of chilling tales from the past that do not quite reach the levels of their Universal counterparts but offer enough fun to dig into. All of these move at a pretty brisk pace with some decent special effects to enhance the atmosphere. The Catman of Paris stands out the most for us, but they are all pretty consistent in quality. Kino Classics has released a Blu-Ray set featuring a fine A/V presentation and a welcome assortment of special features. If you want to explore some lesser-known genre efforts from the past, this is worth a spin. Recommended

Republic Pictures Horror Collection is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.