I don't know what it is, but IMHO the reboots always seem to fall flat for me. Maybe it's because I grew up watching these series every day after school. The Munsters, The Addams Family, and Giligan's Island were among my favorites. Maybe it's the change from black and white to color. Maybe it's the different actors trying to portray characters from an era long past. Let's face it, cinema and acting were much different 50 + years ago.
Wow, it seems like just yesterday. I can't believe the series is that old. The Munsters aired from 1964 to 1966. I was born a few years after the fact. I grew up watching the re-runs on tv after school. They were played constantly throughout the 70s and 80s. Each day, I'd come home from school, we had roughly 5 or 6 tv stations to choose from. There was one small local channel, well they were all local back then, but one station aired mostly re-runs from the 50s and 60s. I grew up on that channel, watching Happy Day's, Laverne and Shirley, Gilligans Island, The Munsters, The Addams Family, and the Rifleman among others. This was the TV of my youth.
As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Rob Zombie. Both his music and his filmmaking. I was so surprised when I came upon this in my Netflix suggestions. I had no idea that he undertook this project. How it escaped my radar is beyond me. Really glad I found it though.
Nobody does horror like Rob Zombie. He always casts his wife Sheri Moon Zombie and I'm also a fan of his wife's acting. It came as no surprise to discover that he casted her as Lily Munster. This may have been her first leading role. Well she's usually a supporting actress, but still usually has a decent role and a major part in his films.
I'll start with Sheri's performance. I personally thought she made a really good Lily. I think she nailed it. Again, I'm a huge fan, so maybe I'm a little partial. However, her mannerisms, her movements, and her dialogue seemed spot on. I enjoyed the performance a lot. A small part of me also feels like she carried the entire movie. Herman was good, but Lily was spot on!
As I stated at the beginning, the movie fell a little flat at the start. As it progressed though, I began to enjoy it more and more. I think all the actors got their character traits down for the most part.
Herman Munster was played by Jeff Daniel Phillips. It took a minute for him to grow on me. Overall, I think he did a good job.
Again he nailed most of the mannerisms and goofy behavior. I think color actually added another dimension to his character. Again, it took a bit for his performance to grow on me.
The costumes IMHO were awesome. Think Marilyn Manson meets Herman Munster and Lily. Very rockstar styling. As a matter of fact,(small spoiler) Herman is a bit of a rockstar when he meets Lily.
With that said, we get a little bit of a backstory on Lily and Herman. We find out how they met and also why they left Transylvania and how they ended up in California. We also find out how they acquired Spot, the Dragon that lived under their stairs. I thought this was pretty cool and it seemed accurate or feasible from my memories of the original series.
The basic plot works out in typical Munster fashion. Herman meets Lily, they get married, and shenanigans and hijinx unfold. The main characters are Lily, Grandpa, and Herman.
To my surprise and delight, Rob Zombie proved he could make a decent movie without all the violence and gore. His films can be really brutal. I believe this was his first attempt at comedy, and it worked in typical Rob Zombie fashion.
I didn't find the movie particularly funny. Well, it had its moments. I found myself laughing out loud several times. It wasn't particularly gut-busting humor, but funny at times. I laughed. I found it more cute and adorable, rather than funny. Probably not what he was going for but it worked for me.
Instead of a 60s feel to it, I thought it had more of a 90s feel to it. That makes sense though, considering Rob Zombie is a product of the nineties. The costumes and use of light and colors in the set designs just screamed retro 90s. It really felt like if The Munsters were produced in the 1990s, this is what we would have ended up with.
I wonder how much of the set scenes were computer generated. I really loved the cinematography and use of color. It was almost psychedelic in some parts.
Written and directed by Rob Zombie. The movie's main focus was Herman, Lily, and Grandpa. I was hoping to see Eddie, and cousin Marilyn make an appearance. That never happened though. Could we end up seeing a part two with Eddie and Marilyn? That would be cool.
I was also surprised that Rob Zombie didn't incorporate the car into the show. That seems right up his alley. God, I loved that car as a kid!
As I recall, the car only made it into a few scenes in the original tv series. I remember getting super excited whenever I'd see it though! My father was a car guy and I remember jumping up and exclaiming, "Dad get in here, Herman's driving the car!" and my father would come running in. 🤣🍻
So if they decide on a part II, I'd love to see Eddie and Marilyn and the car.
Surprisingly the movie only received 4.5 out of 10 stars on IMDB. Maybe it was the nostalgia, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Was it great... Absolutely not. Frankly though, how many of these reboots and remakes are? I think it's a tough undertaking to take memories from people's past and bring them to life in modern times. As a director and producer, it has to be a pretty brave undertaking. I mean, maybe our expectations are just too high. IDK, but I've yet to watch a remake that seemed better than the original.
I personally feel Rob Zombie did The Munsters franchise justice with his portrayal of The Munsters. I enjoyed it and I was entertained for 1 hour and 49 minutes. If he decided to do part II, I'd probably watch it too!
The Dood approves! If you get a chance, The Munsters streams on Netflix. Check it out and let me know what you thought.
Cite:
IMDB screenshot of Herman Munster https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14813212/
Some facts about The Munsters https://www.looper.com/723761/the-real-reason-the-munsters-got-canceled-in-1966/
Image use of movie poster taken from WikiPedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Munsters_(2022_film)
MunsterKoach taken from Wiki Commons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munster_Koach
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