The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Munsters originally ran from 1964 to 1966 and, as it was often cheap and messy, the humor came across in fits and starts as monster caricatures tried to impersonate traditional mother and father roles found in American sitcoms. The “Dad” jokes were steady and so were the monster jokes. The show, while beloved for its nonstop zaniness, was often groan-worthy with its mordant sense of humor, although it had its fair share of gut busting guffaws, too. It hasn’t aged well. You either get it or you don’t . . . and if you weren’t raised with it on the television screen, then you definitely don’t get it.

Given The Munsters history of bad puns and creaky jokes, writer/director Rob Zombie’s spin on these beloved characters absolutely nails the spirit of the show. I loved every minute of this throwback movie, vibing with its rhythm and its look as a new set of actors take on these beloved parts. The cast has chemistry and everything about the production - even the quirky edits - just clicks into place to create (or is it recreate?) a fun-loving television tomb to the past.

It’s the audience that is all wrong.

I’m going to begin this review with an acknowledgement to all my friends telling me that Rob Zombie’s The Munsters absolutely sucks. I hear you, my friends. I understand your misgivings about the prequel to the beloved television show - even if that show was satirized (and sanitized) with the same arduous camp as Rob Zombie’s movie sometimes is - and I understand your complaints: the anticlimactic ramifications; the tonal misfires; the barrage of bad puns which left you deadfaced; and so on. I could go on with every single complaint I have heard or read about Zombie’s lovefest to all things monster-schlock, but I won’t give the hate anymore publicity.

The fact is that those complaints are in keeping with the spirit of The Munsters. Nothing has changed.

Truthfully, cinematographer Zoran Popovic and the cast assembled for this koooky MONSTER MASH through classic Munsters’ lore - as seen through the eyes of writer/director Rob Zombie and editor Glenn Garland - deserves much better. This is a passion project which is, ultimately, a brave undertaking in this day and age. Sure, it is a bizarre venture, but it is one worth watching. At its core, The Munsters is an effortless romp through a dedication to the source material - which includes the acting - and comes across to its audience as equal parts hokey and charming, just like the show.

The Munsters is a lot of fun, capturing both the highs and lows of the television show’s campy creations. Zombie’s movie is both family friendly and fun-loving, managing to tip its hat to both the original show and classic monsters from our catalog of cinematic horror. From misguided graverobbers to the Gill-Man in the Creature from the Black Lagoon movies, Zombie’s overload of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it comfort-creature references are just part of the fun as he unpacks all the material that inspired him throughout his music and film career.

With a soft spot in his heart for monstrosities, monsters, and all the kooky stuff which goes along with such topics, Rob Zombie’s spin on The Munsters is a hoot and a half of Halloween fun as The Munsters - Herman Munster (Jeff Daniel Philips), Lily Munster (Sheryl Moon Zombie) and The Count (Daniel Roebuck) - bring their zany ways all the way from Transylvania to 1313 Mockingbird Lane in Hollyweird, California.

And the moving party's just beginning, too.

With much of the same charm found in the original series (which was a zany satire of family sitcoms made popular by Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver), Zombie amps up the colorful cartoon aspect - found in 1966’s Munster, Go Home! - and fills the screen with neon-soaked spectacle as colorful creatures come to life for some hard-headed, demented fun.

Lily is in search of a real man. She wants the man of her nightmares. Her father, The Count, wants her to hook up with his friend Count Orlock (a very fun Richard Brake who also plays Herman’s creator, Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang), but she can’t get past Orlock’s rat fetish (as the film hilariously tips its witchy hat to the events in 1922’s Nosferatu). While she stays out on the prowl, the tap-dancing, lame-joke-telling television appearance of Dr. Wolfgang’s monster, Herman Munster, has left her enthralled. She must meet this creature of the night before his rising star passes her by!

And meet him she does! It’s love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet in this crazy Transylvanian romance.

Now, Zombie originally wanted to keep the movie in black-and-white, staying true to the television show’s aesthetic, but when the studio demanded he make the movie in color, he met them with the hyper-realized styling of brilliant lighting techniques which brings his monsters to a saturated life. It’s as if this movie is shot with some super technicolor stylings, making The Munsters (and the monsters) spring forth from the screen with startling details that can’t be ignored. And just check out the details in the backgrounds, too. That’s more of the fun in this frightfully funny movie, which - like the original television show - is just as crazy and corny when it comes to its approach to humor.

With fun-filled performances from Sylvester McCoy, Catherine Schell, Jorge Garcia, Cassandra Peterson, Tomas Boykin, and cameos from Pat Priest, Dee Wallace, Butch Patrick, Fred Coury, and Renata Kiss as Uncle Gilbert, The Munsters is a fun reminder of yesterday. It can be seen on Netflix and is now available on blu-ray.

Home Video Distributor: Universal Studios
Available on Blu-ray - September 27, 2022
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1Spanish: DTS 5.1
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

From writer/director Rob Zombie comes the strangest love story ever told. Lily is just your typical 150-year-old, lovelorn vampire looking for the man of her nightmares that is until she lays eyes on Herman, a seven-foot-tall, green experiment with a heart of gold. It's love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet in this crazy Transylvanian romance. Unfortunately, it's not all smooth sailing in the cemetery as Lily's father The Count has other plans for his beloved daughter's future, and they don't involve her bumbling beau Herman. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll howl at the moon as The Munsters make their way to Mockingbird Lane!

Video

Universal releases Rob Zombie’s The Munsters on Blu-ray with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and a 1080p high-definition transfer. The saturated and stylized colors throughout the feature are high-stakes game changers with a vibrancy that is almost unheard of in this day and age. The colors are both bold and hold incredibly powerful lines, thickening around the edges with strong lines. The colors are nearly neon at times like the deep green in Herman’s flesh, the purple in the details around Lily, and the high blue contrasts for The Count. This release comes highly recommended.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 is blazingly cool, thumping with strong bottoms and keeping the dialogue front and center while the atmospheres remain engaging.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• Zombie provides an EPIC commentary which shouldn’t be missed by fans of the show!

Special Features:

There are two, but they are loads of fun and, as they both clock in at over an hour long, worth the purchase.

• The Munsters: Return to Mockingbird Lane
• Feature commentary with director/writer/producer Rob Zombie

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Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: PG.
Runtime: 109 mins
Director: Rob Zombie
Writer: Rob Zombie
Cast: Sheri Moon Zombie; Jeff Daniel Phillips; Daniel Roebuck
Genre: Comedy | Horror
Tagline: A Rob Zombie Film.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Oh, come on! You know and I know that we gotta get rid of that bozo Herman Munster!"
Theatrical Distributor: Universal
Official Site:
Release Date: September 27, 2022 Digital & Blu-ray premier
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: September 27, 2022
Synopsis: Reboot of "The Munsters", that followed a family of monsters who moves from Transylvania to an American suburb.