Spooky season is back again, and so are The Munsters! This means the exciting time has come to re-watch our favourite horror, creepy, monster, and witchy movies all over again. I feel like over the past few years, pop culture and movies have really contributed to brightening fall’s mood and creating an awesome celebration of rainy days, cold feet and wet noses. Isn’t that brilliant? But on the other hand, who doesn’t love a spooky movie marathon under a blanket and hot cocoa anyway?
Well, the perfect movie just came out for you to grab your mug, cat, blanket and the TV remote: Netflix just released the black comedy, The Munsters, which goes way back to the 1960s classic TV show! Comedy, monsters, love and adventures, here’s everything you need to know about this movie.
‘The Munsters’ versus ‘The Addams Family’
Credit: Netflix
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You’ve undoubtedly heard about The Addams Family, right? Well, the Munsters family is the other famous monster family, who actually was the direct competitor to The Addams family during the 1960s! Before being a cult movie franchise, The Addams Family was a 60s sitcom as well, and both aired from 1964 to 1965. They were based on macabre/comedic tones to act as a satire of the classic American suburb family.
While the majority of the audience nowadays remembers most about Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday and Pugsley, thanks to the 90s movies, The Munsters actually used to have higher ratings than The Addams Family did, and a large audience! It’s this popularity that allowed the show to get spin-off series and multiple movies, including one with a theatrical release.
Both shows were actually really similar and can be considered as twin-shows: a super catchy theme, a cool gothic house, an unusual family isolated from the rest of society who judges them, black humour, and depicting the “normal” as abnormal.
I think it’s really funny that both The Munsters and The Addams Family (the ‘Wednesday‘ show) are back almost simultaneously, and both are on Netflix! But what was this vintage sitcom actually about? Let’s go back to the 60s and find out.
What was The Munsters series about?
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The new movie depicts the home life of a family of monsters. The father and head of the household is Herman Munster – Frankenstein’s monster – and his vampire wife is Lily. They live with Lily’s father Grandpa – a caricature of Count Dracula – their werewolf son Eddie and their human niece Marilyn. Since the show was based on black comedy, the niece was considered attractive according to conventional beauty standards, while being called the “ugly duckling” by the monster family.
The series jokingly twisted every social custom of its time and deconstructed what was considered as “normal” for a classic American family, in a pretty similar manner as The Addams Family did. After two seasons, the show was cancelled after the ratings dropped due to its competition against the Batman live-action series, starring Adam West.
What’s the new movie about?
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Now the spooky family is alive again, and this time, it’s in a Netflix movie! Written, produced and directed by Rob Zombie, the movie is based on the 60s family sitcom, but takes place prior to the events of the series, serving as a prequel highlighting the origins of the sitcom’s beloved characters. As shown in the trailer, the movie shows Herman and Lily’s meeting, adventures and eventual marriage in Transylvania, all despite the disapproval of Lily’s father Grandpa.
For this new movie, Jeff Daniel Phillips plays Herman Munster, while Sheri Moon Zombie, wife of director Rob Zombie, plays the vampire Lily Munster, and Daniel Roebuck plays Lily’s father, Grandpa.
From what we see in the trailer, I think it truly shows that Rob Zombie is a big fan of the original sitcom as he said he was. The movie seems to use the same tropes as the original sitcom did, and what a delight to hear the original theme again! I think it’s cool that the movie now plays with both black & white and colours, to make fun of the extravagant colours that had to be used in the 60s to give a proper visual aesthetic onscreen. I can’t wait to see if the movie lives up to the legacy of the series!
The Munsters was released on Netflix today in the United State! So, you can go and watch the new movie right this second, if you live in the US! It’s going to be available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD in the United Kingdom and other territories.
What do you make of this feature? Are you looking forward to watching Rob Zombie’s new movie on Netflix this spooky season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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No you can’t. Not on UK netflix.
Yeah whys it not on the UK NETFLIX? cant find any info anywhere
It’s only available on US Netflix… For now !
It’s ashame that people in the Uk gets the Montreal screwjob every time when comes to exclusivity and it’s not even available on Uk Dvd and Blu ray either all the hype but disappointment.