Now When I first heard of it I was horrified. I felt He was going to destroy the legacy of the show I loved so much by turning the fun loving first family of fright into a slasher family. I am glad to say that is not the case at all
Lily is a typical 150-year-old lovelorn vampire who's looking for the man of her nightmares -- until she lays her eyes on Herman, a 7-foot-tall green experiment with a heart of gold. It's love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet for each other in a Transylvanian romance. Unfortunately, it's not all smooth sailing in the cemetery as Lily's father has other plans for his beloved daughter's future, and they don't involve her new bumbling beau.
Zombie's Munsters is a psychedelic 60s trippy comedy. Complete with music including a Herman and Lily duet of 'I got you babe' as they are dressed like Sonny and Cher.
I think Rob Zombie meant for this film to be a prequel to the classic television series. The reason I feel this is the ending sequence is like the TV introduction complete in black and white. Now as much as it is supposed to be a sequel I think it falls short of that. The magic of what Fred Gywnne, Al Lewis and Yvonne DeCarlo brought to the screen just can not be matched.
Now Jeff Daniel Phillips (Herman), Sheri Moon Zombie (Lily), Daniel Roebuck (The Count aka Grandpa) and Richard Brake (Dr. Wolfgang) do a passable job as these characters it is just hard to fill the large shoes of the ones that came before them. It is a task I would not want to try to perform. Not only this but they play duel roles as well. I won't spoil that, check that out for yourself.
In addition to these the cast includes, Catherine Schell (Return of the Pink Panther), Jorge Garcia (Becker), Cassandra Peterson (Elvira Mistress of the Dark), Dee Wallace (E.T.), audio cameos of Pat Priest (Marilyn Munster in the original series), Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster in the original series).
Rob Zombie's vision for the film was pretty impressive with a color palette like something out of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The sets are tremendous. The make-up is perfect. The only thing that kind of hit me the wrong way was I didn't like The Count with the large villainous mustache.
The film is presented in widescreen format in 1.78:1 aspect ratio there are soundtrack options of English and Spanish in Dolby Digital 5.1. There is also the option for English, Spanish and French subtitles. No doubt the film looks and sounds stunning, but that is to be expected as it is a 2022 film.
Now Universal Home Entertainment went a little lite on the bonus features for this release. Take a look at what is included.
* Audio Commentary by Rob Zombie
The insightful audio commentary by director Rob Zombie taking us behind the scenes of the making of his tribute film.
* The Munsters: Return to Mockingbird Lane
This is an over hour long featurette that tracks the making of this film. Something that I found interesting is that the crew is wearing masks because of Covid-19. I thought in 20 or 30 years if someone watches this making of will this seem strange to them?
In the final analysis Rob Zombie's film is not the original TV series. To try to compare this film to the iconic series is just plain unfair. But when watching it is no worse that the other remakes of Here come The Munsters, The Munsters Today, The Munster's Scary Little Christmas. I think it is a fun little take on the iconic Universal monster movies. It will be a nice little film for Halloween 2022. And who knows it may just become annual Halloween viewing for your family.
If you would like to add The Munsters reboot movie to your collection. It is available to view on Netflix, on Digital or for Physical media fans like myself on DVD and Blu-ray. Head over to Amazon and order yours today.
Out of 4 film reels (4 being the best) Universal Home Video release of The Munsters receives...
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