Over at the Classic Horror Film Board (no relation to Classic-Horror.com), Jim Clatterbaugh reports that he spoke with a representative over at Universal, who stated that the studio had no plans to release classic horror DVDs this year (excepting the upcoming Special Edition of The Mummy). Apparently, it's past the time to begin planning such a release, as they are already working on their 2009 schedule. Even more disheartening is the reasoning: classic "library" titles are a hard sell and getting harder as the DVD market becomes more and more glutted.

Please bear in mind that this news is based on a conversation with a studio representative and not taken from any sort of official announcement. Further, by reporting on the absence of something, we are setting ourselves up to be proven very wrong -- in which case we would be more than delighted.

Still, it makes me kind of sad. I had some hopes that Universal would eventually release some of their Paramount Horrors on DVD, even as a Best Buy-exclusive. Titles that remain unavailable in an official DVD release include these Paramount titles:

Murder by the Clock (1931)
Island of Lost Souls (1933, a personal favorite)
Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Supernatural (1933)
The Monster and the Girl (1941)
The Uninvited (1944)

These Universal-made thrillers are similarly unavailable:

Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)
The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Jungle Woman (1944)
Jungle Captive (1945)
House of Horrors (1946)
The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)
Curse of the Undead (1959)

With DVD release companies tightening their budgets and cutting out the older titles to make way for re-releases of proven sellers, one hopes that another solution will present itself so that Universal can continue to make a profit and classic horror fans can continue to feed their habit.