Over the years we have seen many attempts to revive the 1960s favourite series The Munsters.
The latest to take a stab at the property is the polarising Rob Zombie, who has, in his own words, been chasing the project for around 20 years.
While Zombie ouvre is more brutal and foul-mouthed, here he gets the opportunity to do something a bit more tame.
Despite concerns around the budget, I have to say The Munsters does look great, with Zombie always having an eye for memorable visuals even when the finished product doesn’t always match up.
He brings on board plenty of familiar faces, and you get the feeling he is having a lot of fun with the material; making a family-friendly horror film.
The story is part origin story, part what you would come to expect from The Munsters, with the story fairly linear and sprinkled with some good performances by the likes of Daniel Roebuck (who laps it up as the Count) and Zombie mainstay Richard Brake, who really stands out amongst the secondary cast.
Where The Munsters does fall down is in its story, which feels a bit stretched out at 1 hour 50 minutes and around Lily and Herman who don’t really gel on-screen.
This isn’t a criticism of Sheri Moon Zombie, who arguably puts in one of her better performances but at the same time Lily feels a bit too cartoonish, although perhaps that was the point.
One thing you can say for The Munsters is that Zombie really nails the camp of the proceedings and has some great cameos from the likes of Cassandra Peterson.
It would certainly be interesting to see how, with the exposition and origin out the way, if Zombie could craft another tale from Mockingbird Lane, if this becomes a success.
The Munsters is a step into the unknown for Zombie, but it certainly shows enough potential that he can create interesting stories and appeal to a whole new audience.
The Munsters will be released on 27 September 2022.
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