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Rob Zombie’s The Munsters (2022) is a film adaptation of the 1960s sitcom of the same name. It follows the origin of the characters from the original series as well as establishing how Frankenstein, Herman Munster, and Lily Munster got married, and ended up living in the fictional town of Mockingbird Heights.
The Munsters premiered on Netflix on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, and is set in Transylvania. The Munsters features actors Jeff Daniel Phillips as Frankenstein Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily Munster, Daniel Roebuck as Vampire the Count, Richard Brake as Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang, and Sylvester McCoy as the Count’s butler Igor.
Read on to find out the major takeaways from Netflix’s The Munsters (2022).
The Munsters (2022) focuses on the origin story, places the monsters in a human world
It gives an origin to Herman Munster and Spot
Zombie’s retelling of The Munsters has taken a step ahead and provided an origin for the character Herman Munster. The series from the 1960s employed verbal references to Herman’s origins, but seldom with visual aid.
In The Munsters (2022), director Zombie decided to stick to the origin of the monster often referred to by his creator’s name, Frankestein, and introduced the character Dr. Henry Wolfgang. The film begins with Dr. Henry Wolfgang and his assistant Floop on the lookout for the two best brains of the world – pianist Franz Pennywhacker and astrophysicist Shelly Von Rothbone.
But things did not work out for the scientist, who found himself in possession of Rothbone’s comedian brother’s brains.
Wolfgang created the Frankenstein, who is then named Herman Munster by Floop. After the doctor realized that his invention did not turn out to be the boon to humankind as he had expected, he abandoned Herman.
Similarly, Zombie also rendered an origin story for the Munsters’ pet dragon, Spot. As per the latest film, Spot was found by Herman and Lily while on the couple’s honeymoon in Paris. They read of a monster at large in the sewers of Paris, checked out the sewers, and found a baby dragon, whom they adopted.
Spot has appeared in almost all the versions that have included the Munster family.
Background to two monsters having a family
The original series had mentioned in one of its episodes that Herman and Lily had been married since 1865, but there was hardly any visual evidence to back the statements with.
In The Munsters, Zombie explained how Herman and Lily met at a nightclub after the latter saw Herman as Wolfgang’s creation on a television show. Prior to meeting Herman, Lily had already rejected another monster, Orlock.
Both Herman and Lily longed for love, and thought that they were made for each other after they met. Lily invited Herman over to her place for dinner, and introduced him to her father, the Count.
Despite her father’s disapproval, Lily and Herman got married. However, the bond between Lily and Herman is hardly fleshed out beyond physical attraction.
Contextualizes monsters in a human world
One of the most interesting aspects of Zombie’s film is that it contextualizes the family in a world predominated by humans. Their journey from monster-dominated Transylvania to Los Angeles, California, is reflected sequentially in the film. The original series, on the other hand, threw the characters into the world of humans without setting a background for the characters.
Humans and monsters do not get along, but there are no restrictions on the latter’s movements, or their rights. For instance, the flight that Herman, Lily, and the Count took to Los Angeles, had human passengers on-board as well. But they were all packed at the back of the plane, while the Munster family flew first class.
The fear of monsters persists, but that does not seem to impede the communication between monsters and humans.
Stays true to the original series from 1960s
Director Rob Zombie was a fan of the 1960s original series, and had pursued developing the film for over twenty years. The Munsters stayed true to the original in terms of rendering the characters their comic touches, and even their make-up and costume.
Probably to ensure a seamless transition for a 2022 film to be a prequel to a show from the 1960s, the film retained the characteristic traits of the characters, of an average American family, and combined them to form a family of monsters.
The Munsters is currently streaming on Netflix.
