The first teaser trailer for Rob Zombie’s The Munsters’ teaser trailer reuses the original series’ theme music while giving a new twist to the iconic opening credits. Herman Munsters clumsily stumbles out of 1313 Mockingbird Lane followed by Lily gracefully walking out and Grandpa naively blocking his own way with his shovel. There’s no sign of Marilyn and Eddie so far, but the trailer suggests the Munsters may have just made their way over to America.
The Munsters isn’t Rob Zombie’s first stab at rebooting a classic franchise, but it does serve as a way to redeem the director from his controversial reimaginings of horror projects. Zombie notably rebooted the iconic Halloween franchise in 2005, but his version of the characters and story was met with backlash by critics and audiences alike. As his new reboot of The Munsters takes on the family-friendly, innocently charming gothic Munsters of 1960s sitcom fame, Zombie is proving his ability to pay clear homage to the original content while breaking out of the gory horror genre.
While Rob Zombie has taken audiences along every step of the way on his production of The Munsters, the new teaser trailer is the first official in-character rendering of the director’s adaptation. Not only does the teaser trailer give a glimpse of the scarily accurate personalities of Zombie’s Munster family, but it also demonstrates his careful attention to detail in recreating the Mockingbird Lane mansion and character costumes. When The Munsters arrives later in 2022, it seems the spirit of the original series will pervade every aspect of Zombie’s reboot.
Rob Zombie's Mockingbird Lane House vs. The Original Munsters
As a life-long fan of the the Mockingbird Lane house, the faithfulness of the director’s recreation of the home makes the film’s nostalgia even more pronounced.
Rob Zombie's Munsters Character Designs vs. The Original Show
With Rob Zombie’s The Munsters movie being in color, the character designs will look much closer to those of the sequel movies. Including Grandpa’s purple and Herman’s bright green makeup, the characters certainly look more dead in the new film than they did in the original series. However, the prosthetics for Herman’s Franstein’s monster cap and Grandpa’s iconic hairstyle are eerily accurate to The Munsters’ 1960s series. Rob Zombie has also been able to recreate the glamorous movie star style that inspired Lily Munster in the original series, from her purple gown to the iconic ruffled cape that Yvonne De Carlo’s character donned in the 1960s. Grandpa is also still decked out in his classic vampiric suit and Transylvanian ornaments. Zombie’s The Munsters movie refreshes Herman’s high black boots and solid black outfit as well, feeling as if the characters’ costumes were lifted straight from the original show.
While Lily has a new hairstyle split with white on one side and black on the other rather than the white streaks of De Carlo’s character, Zombie appears to be exaggerating a few of the iconic features of the originals. Grandpa’s hair wisps are far longer in Zombie’s The Munsters movie than in the 1960s sitcom, with his eyebrows (impossibly) seeming even bigger. Herman’s eyes also appear to be much darker than Fred Gwynne’s iteration, but Zombie did impressively manage to place the scar on his forehead in the exact right position.
Rob Zombie's Munsters Cast Performances vs. The Original Show
Rob Zombie’s color and black-and-white The Munsters teaser trailer only gives a quick sneak peek of the personalities of the characters, but their nostalgic entrances appear to capture the spirit of the original performances. Fred Gwynne’s Herman was a lovably clumsy, childlike figure whose naiveté was perhaps his most endearing trait. Jeff Daniel Phillips’ performance is also digging into the clumsiness and cluelessness of Herman, suggesting he’ll still be the brutishly strong big child that viewers from the 1960s series. From the first glimpse, however, Phillips’ Herman appears to be more apprehensive than Gwynne's, which could reveal a shift in self-confidence for the new version.
The Lily Munster of Sheri Moon Zombie doesn’t seem to have the same assertiveness as Yvonne De Carlo’s, but is still able to recapture the elegance and grand movie-star mannerisms that pervaded the original Lily. The Munsters’ 1960s Lily was the voice of reason in the family whose quick vampiric wit let nothing slide past her, but was warm and kind at heart, with the friendly nature of the character seemingly being prioritized in Zombie’s Lily. Daniel Roebuck’s Grandpa/Count Dracula is spot on, with his performance reviving Al Lewis’ dual intelligence and navieté. Grandpa may be the scientific and sarcastic member of the family, but he always had lovably innocent quirks that grounded him, which Roebuck’s The Munsters performance makes sure to accurately incorporate.
