Having had the Halloween franchise ripped away from him (thank goodness), Rob Zombie is diving into another classic property, but this time with a comedic slant. Rob Zombie released the first trailer for his new movie The Munsters, a reboot of the classic ’60s sitcom with a loving but ghoulish family that isn’t the Addams Family.
Surprisingly, the film seems to be a prequel of sorts to the TV series, showing how Herman Munster (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Lily Munster (Sheri Moon Zombie) first met and fell in love, all against the wishes of Lily’s father The Count aka Grandpa (Dan Roebuck). It even looks like we’ll get to see the origins of the Munsters’ iconic home, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, as they move from Transylvania, where their monstrous appearance is normal, to suburban USA. What it also looks like is that we won’t be seeing young Eddie Munster, the werewolf offspring of a Frankenstein and a vampire, or cousin Marilyn, the only “normal”-looking member of the Munster family.
The Munsters also stars Cassandra Petersonas real estate agent Barbara Carr, Tomas Boykinas Lester the Werewolf, Richard Brakeas Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang, Jorge Garcia as Floop, Sylvester McCoyas Igor, Catherine Schellas Zoya Krupp, Dee Wallace as the voice of “Good Morning Transylvania,” and Jeremy Wheeler as Mr. Gateman. More excitingly, Pat Priest (one of the two original Marilyns) and Butch Patrick (the original Eddie) will have parts as well.
As for how the film looks, it could go two ways. There’s definitely a campy and cheap aesthetic to the entire The Munsters trailer, and those performances are hammier than a deli sandwich. But that’s kind of exactly how the original TV show was. A slavish devotion to the series (vibrant colors aside), which Zombie has routinely proclaimed his love for, could make for a pretty bad movie, even if it is meant to be kid-friendly. However, the right touch of camp and homage could make for something wonderfully delightful. We’ll have to wait and see if the film can pull off the tricky task of being in on the joke without being in on the joke.
The Rob Zombie The Munsters movie will release this September.
Published: Jul 13, 2022 01:39 pm