The Munsters

[Daniel]

Teaser:



Basically a copy of the original second season theme... minus Marilyn and Eddie. Pretty faithful! Glad it's keeping the vibe of the show. Only real complaint is with Herman. Seems too goofy and lacks Fred Gwynne's rubbery comedic charm. Still, as a big fan of the original it has my attention!

[EricJ]

Marilyn is in the movie, accdg. to early rumors--
But unlike all the 80's revivals (Edward Hermann made a pretty good Herman), this looks like Rob got his Devil's Rejects repertory company together for vanity cosplay. Imagine what they could have done with REAL casting.

(And I can only dread how they'll handle the "What is Eddie, anyway?" question:
The fact that he's a wolf-boy was rather unambiguously addressed in the original 60's pilot, but quickly reconsidered.)

[Ben]

I’m willing to give this a chance. As Dan says, it looks pretty faithful, and I actually thought the casting *looked* pretty good. Would be nice to have a proper new film-film, though, as opposed to a TV movie or streaming special, which is what this looks like so far.

[Randall]

I'm curious to see it. I loved the original, too. Too early to say yet, but the teaser suggests new actors doing impressions of the originals, and not nearly well enough. But really--- who could ever truly replace the originals?

This is the same conundrum other remakes face, of course, and most particularly Get Smart. How do you do Get Smart and NOT have Steve Carrell do a Don Adams impression? Sure, he has to make the part his own, but without Don Adams' mannerisms, inflection, and schtick, it really wasn't Get Smart at all.

And thus it shall be with The Munsters. If it ain't Fred Gwynne, you're stuck with either a bad to so-so impression, or a whole different character. That doesn't mean it'll be bad, but it will likely only make us want to go back to watching reruns. Still, I remain curious.

[EricJ]

I remember an interview with grown-up Lisa "Wednesday Addams" Loring on the Addams TV disc set where she said the two most common questions she got at conventions were
A) was John Astin as Gomez intentionally trying to imitate Groucho Marx, and
B) her stance on the Addams vs. Munsters debate.

She liked to answer both questions by likening the Addamses to a Marx Bros. comedy, and the Munsters to a Three Stooges comedy:
Ie., the Marxes would invade respectable society with their own rules and society would be powerless to stop them, while the Stooges would innocently try to fit in by getting respectable jobs as plumbers and housepainters, but mess everything up by being knuckleheads.

From the other horror fanboys who are excited for anything Zombie does, or loved the "monster show" as a kid, I have a feeling Loring's analysis of the show will be lost in the shuffle.

[Daniel]

Full trailer:



I wanted to give Rob Zombie the benefit of the doubt given his love of Munsters, but this was pretty bad. It looks like a student film. The sound mixing is awful, overdone HDR, the editing, terrible acting. And Herman's voice... Will say that aside from the distracting mustache, Grandpa is pretty spot on. I'll still keep an open mind, but it really feels all camp with no heart.

[Ben]

Yes, this just dropped of the any interest whatsoever dial…

[Randall]

There are flashes of goodness, but that vanishes whenever Lily or Herman speak. This looks like .. yes, a student film. Or bad direct to video. Or bad cable remake.

Just bad.

[Bill1978]

Looks like a terrible cheap YouTube knockoff. I was mildly curious about it (never really was a Munsters fan) but that trailer has made this a hard skip now.

[EricJ]

There are flashes of goodness, but that vanishes whenever Lily or Herman speak. This looks like .. yes, a student film. Or bad direct to video. Or bad cable remake.

Uh...I'll go with "Student film" for $200, Ken.

Rob wanted to keep his "Maverick independent" Devil's Rejects repertory, instead of selling the idea to Universal and letting more experienced heads give it a little big-budget polish, instead of a cheap self-indulgent backyard home movie...What's the worst that could happen, it would have ended up like the Little Rascals or Beverly Hillbillies movies, rather than Johnny Knoxville's "Dukes of Hazzard"?

And I didn't mind the characters' speaking, as that, and the fan-reverential attempt to put Herman in all his iconic TV-episode costumes (like the motorcycle-gang outfit or the pajamas) seemed to be the only signs that Zombie WAS an actual loyal fanboy of the series, and not doing another Halloween-remake or that Bryan Singer "Couldn't get the Addams rights" thing.

[Daniel]

Think you mean Bryan Fuller.

[EricJ]

No, I mean 2014's "Mockingbird Lane", where--since Singer couldn't get the rights to do the Addamses as a rebellious LGBT-pride metaphor--he six-o'-one outed the Munsters instead:
Turning Herman into twink android Jerry O'Connell, Lily into a hot vampire-cougar, and Eddie smugly bragging to the normies that his folks were monsters and theirs weren't.

Once seen, and never un-seen, Rob's fanboy cosplay doesn't seem so bad after that...

[Daniel]

Figured it was the one-off pilot, Fuller was a part of that too. I saw more inspiration from his previous work on display and not so much Singer. It was also released in 2012. Although not perfect, I actually quite enjoyed it. Showed potential.

[Daniel]

Coming to Blu September 27:

Bonus Content:
Includes a digital copy of The Munsters (2022) (Subject to expiration. Go to NBCUCodes.com for details.)
The Munsters: Return To Mockingbird Lane – From the mind of Rob Zombie, this hour-long look behind the scenes of The Munsters gives an intimate window into his filmmaking process. Watch as he weaves his way through the production and collaborates with a dedicated team to bring his unique vision to life.
Feature Commentary With Director/Writer/Producer Rob Zombie

Will drop on Netflix at a later date.

[Ben]

Which is where I might try and get past the first ten minutes and then give up…