The Munsters Film Review

When it comes to family friendly horror families you do usually think of The Addams Family and for good reason as nearly every single TV show and movie that they've been in they've knocked it out of the park. The same thing cannot be said however for The Munsters as while they did have a wildly popular TV show at the same time as the original The Addams Family show and have had a several movies including a theatrically released movie starring most of the cast from the show the family has largely been forgotten about and well there is one movie that alot of Munsters fans think back on in dread and it's that very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today and so then join me as I revie the film that is a prequel to the show with the film in question being called simply just "The Munsters" enjoy.

The plot of this film is the very first thing that's wrong with the film as the film essentially has no plot outside of the premise of telling us how Herman and Lily met and why they came to America with Grandpa in the first place and that's it. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this verry film well then in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really bad. To put it frankly this film doesn't have a plot for alot of it's running time with the only vague hint of a plot that we get in the film being when Lily's brother Lester convinces Herman to sign over the deed to Lily and Grandpa's castle so that he can sell it and make a profit and even then that small hint of a plot doesn't come into plot until nearer the end of the film. Which does make it look like that this films writer , producer and director Rob Zombie forgot to add in a plot and only added in at the last minuet which is a shame as telling an origin story for the show and it's characters is a really good idea and it is one that could have worked with Zombie's style as a film maker but it's also an idea that was done ten times better in the nineties TV movie Here Come The Munsters which makes this film feel like it's ripping off that film with the only difference being that that film had a plot to begin with and this film barely has a premise. This films premise could have worked as a plot for a new Munsters and having life long fan Rob Zombie be the one to tell that story does oddly make sense but there still needed some actual thought and effort put into this films plot to make it worth while in the first place with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman , Shecky Von Rathbone and Zombo and Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily and Donna Doomley. Also starring in this film is Daniel Roebuck as Grandpa and Ezra Mosher , Richard Brake as Dr. Wolfgang and Orlock , Jorge Garcia as Floop , Sylvester McCoy as Igor , Catherine Schell as Zoya Krupp , Tomas Boykin as Lester , Levente Törköly as Bela Krupp , Jeremy Wheeler as Mr. Gateman , Roderick Hill as Mr. Goodbury , Mark Griffith as Mr. Graves , Renáta Kiss as Uncle Gilbert , Butch Patrick as the voice of Tin Can Man , Laurent Winkler as Shelly Von Rathbone , Fred Coury as the voice of Franz Pennywhacker and The Munsters Cuckoo Clock , Miklós Kapácsy as Shady MaGoon , Pat Priest as the voice of the Transylvania Airlines Announcer , Dee Wallace as the voice of the Good Morning Transylvania Announcer and Cassandra Peterson as Barbara Carr.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this verry film well then in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty OK at best. This is a Rob Zombie film and with that you do know exactly what kind of acting that your going to get and yeah sadly it is more of the same here as while actors like Jeff Daniel Phillips and Daniel Roebuck are clearly trying to turn in a good performance alot of this films just feel like that there sleep walking through there performances however tho Sheri Moon Zombie is at the very least trying to recapture what Yvonne De Carlo did with Lily by having a very similar voice and mimicking her hand movements but that's really it interms of praise for her performance as it's just as wooden as you expect from her. With the best actor in this film being Jeff Daniel Phillips as while he sounds nothing like Fred Gwynne he does try to recapture the spirit of the character and he is charming enough in the role that you do kind of forgive him for having a really annoying speaking voice, with it feeling like that he was a fan of the show and therefore wanted to turn in a performance that would both honor the original actor whilst also doing his own unique thing as alot of the actors that are playing characters from the original show feel like there trying to do one or the other and yet with Jeff it feels like that he found the perfect balance between the two with his performance echoing things that Fred Gwynne would do whilst also taking the character and somewhat making him his own. With the acting that's in this very film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none pf this films absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

If you know Rob Zombie character then you'll know that he typically creates hillbilly characters that don't know when to stop swearing and yet here whilst this films characters are still really unlikable there is still an attempt made to make them more like there original show counterparts. As all of the characters from the show do still feel like there old selfs with this being due to the fact that Rob Zombie is a massive fan of the show so much so that his song "Dragula" is named after The Munsters car from the first film Munster, Go Home! therefor it does make sense that he would go out of his way to try and get the shows characters as close to how they were in the show as he possibly could do as this is something that only a true die hard fan of The Munsters would care to do in the first place. However tho while the main Munster family are written like there old selfs and feel true to who they were as characters none of the films others characters are written all that well with alot of them coming across as being one joke characters that have nothing to them like with Lester for example he is the typical loser brother character and yet there's nothing to his character that makes him interesting whereas it would have been all the more better if we did get to see another side to him like maybe he does deeply care for sister even tho his father hates his guts just something would have done to make him feel alot less like a bland character. The same thing could also be said Dr. Wolfgang who did have all of the potential to be this really funny character as the film does set him up as being someone who is really smart but is also really pompous and yet the film just drops him the first chance that it gets when it would have been more funny to see go from someone who did have these fans to someone who is now struggling just to get by and yet this seems to be the thing with this film as the film will set up interesting and funny things with its characters but then it won't follow through on any of them in favor of just setting up more pointless things with its characters.

For some odd reason the makers of this film chose to make this film be a prequel to the show which does mean that not all of the Munster family are present as there's no Eddie and there's no Marilyn in this film. This is despite the fact that Marilyn would technically be alive as she was Herman's niece in the original show and not his daughter which makes her absence in this film all the more weird but at the same time tho making this film a prequel is a smart move as it does mean that people who are none fans of the show can now use this film as a jumping off point moving forward as the film does explain alot about how both Herman and Lily got alot of the things that they have in the show including there pet dragon Spot. This is also something that could be seen as being a bad thing as the film does throw so much backstory and lore at you that it could be seen as being off putting and while all of those things are great for the fans of the show to see they are things that could be seen as being off putting for the mainstream viewer who perhaps hasn't seen a single episode of the show, but to be fair tho The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas also did a very similar thing and yet that's not something that will stop people from using that film as a jumping off point for the 1994 film but here tho it is something that does ultimately hurt the film as the film is throwing alot of easter eggs at you so much so that it does make it obvious that this film does care more about the easter eggs and the obscure characters then it does in telling a complete story as no joke the film just stops for no reason as that's how little that the makers of this film truly cared about the story of the and while granted it was always going to be hard to end this film that doesn't mean that the film just had to stop as they could have found a way for the film to come to a natural conclusion where the next logical step is either the first episode of the show or a potential for a sequel like maybe the film could have ended with Lily finding out that she was pregnant with Eddie.

To give this film some form of credit there are times where it does make an attempt to feel like The Munsters TV show. Like for example there's a scene in Paris where Grandpa is trying to tell Herman what Lester has done and Herman thinks that Grandpa is the main that is a very Munsters TV show gag and it is something that does work well in this film with it even being one of the few times where the Herman and Grandpa relationship feels more true to how it was in the show and not something that was quite badly handled like it very easily could have been due to the fact that Rob Zombie really hasn't made good films before now. With the only other time where this film does feel like classic Munsters is oddly enough at the end of the film where they just straight up play the films teaser trailer complete with a rendition of the classic Munsters TV show theme these are thing that do make it clear that the makers of this film did know how to recapture the spirit of the original show and yet both times they came to little to late as for a lot of the time the film doesn't feel like anything to do with The Munsters heck it doesn't even feel like any of The Munsters reboots or sequels either rather it feels like something that is trying to recapture the spirit and tone of the original without realising what it was that made the original show stand out in the first place with this making those few times where it does feel like the show again stand out all the more as then you do realise that actually the makers of this film did know how to make a Munsters movie it's just that they weren't trying hard enough in the first place. Yet if the makers of this film did put in more thought and effort in getting this film to feel more true to the spirit and tone of the original show and if the makers of this film had been allowed to film this film in black and white like the original show then we might have gotten a more better product out of it.

Understandably this film does put alot of focus on the relationship between Lily and Herman which is fair enough as that's the whole point of the film in the first place. However we don't get to see many of the ups and downs that a relationship like there's might have ran into as we don't to get see them falling for each other as they both fall for each at first sight and nor do we see them arguing alot of the time which yes is a small thing but if your going to do a film that revolves around two people falling in love then there should have been alot of thought and effort put into making there relationship seem alot more believable. Not that it's handled badly as indeed it is handled in a very sitcom type of way which for this film is something that is oddly fitting it's just that it is something that could have used alot of work like for example we should have had a scene where Lily and Herman do fall out which yes would have been a cliche thing to do but it's a cliche for a reason or we could have seen them getting used to being around each other as while we know for a fact that Lily is after a husband Herman on the other hand has only been alive for a few months maximum by the time he meets Lily and therefor he wouldn't know what he wants an that is something that could have been explored with this film but again that seems to be a common thing wit this film as the film does put alot more thought and effort into giving us these obscure Munsters characters then it does into making it's key relationship work with it being the relationship that people are coming to this film to see and when that can't work as well it could have done due to all of the easter eggs then the whole film just falls in on it's self.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and forty nine minuets and forty six seconds. Which to be fair is both a sold running time for this film and also the wrong running time for this film to have as while you do expect films like to be around this films running time you do also expect comedies let alone direct to DVD comedies like this one to be around the one hour and thirty minuet mark and yet because of the fact that this film is almost twenty minuets longer it does sadly mean that you do notice all of its flaws alot mire due to the fact hat we the audience are now being forced to focus on them alot more with this film not really having the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. The film doesn't even use its running time all that wisely due to the fact that this film really doesn't take the time to develop what very little plot that it has in the first place with the film being alot more focused on giving us these over the top almost cartoonish visuals then it is in giving us a well developed and thought plot as on paper the story of how Lily and Herman met and fell in love could have worked. The film even doesn't take the time to fully develop any of it's characters with all of them including the characters from the original show being these very bland and very one note characters where you know right away just what it is that there going to say and how there going to react to any given situation with that being something that does rob the characters the chance to be these interesting and fun characters but as the makers of this film are alot more interesting in focusing on quite literally anything else then its characters it does mean that all of its characters do come across as being half baked and undercooked but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Heck this films comedy it could be argued is the best thing about this film as the makers of this film did go out of there way to hire funny actors that could make this films jokes work in the first place with all of them really trying there bets to make alot this films jokes but sadly they can't do it alot of the time as while there are some really funny jokes to be found in this film this film does have alot more jokes that are just bad at worst and it's worst just plain lazy. With the best joke in the whole entire film being the scene with Grandpa and Herman in Paris as that joke does feel like some thing that Al Lewis and Fred Gwynne would do with it being something that does prove that both Jeff and Dan are good psychical comedians as the key to making a joke like that work is timing and it is something that they did have down perfectly as first we have Herman taking a bottle of wine from Grandpa that he was going to use to hit Herman with and then when Grandpa knocks again Herman tips him with it only being on the third attempt that Herman actually looks up and notices that it Grandpa and if there timing was off by a even a single second then that joke just wouldn't work and yet because of the fact that they did work at it and they did get that timing down perfectly it means that we get a joke that does feel like it would have been right at home in the original show with the rest of the films jokes being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall Munster, Go Home! is easily the best of The Munsters films not only because of the fact that it has alot of the original series actors in it but because of the fact that it does feel like a film version of the show where as here in this film despite the fact that it has a fan of the show making it doesn't like The Munsters for alot of it's running time with the film being a very cheap and lazy cash grab of a film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does have a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where In personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies ad gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Tenor , Amazon . Co . Uk , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images from this film being Google Images simply because Google Images actually has images from this film really are up and on Google Images and plus pretty much much all of the images that I personally found on Google Images were all really very fairly high quality and as well as being as really very fairly high definition as well and so then horror fans we end this review as we always do with really our one and true goddess Elvira wishing us all some really very unpleasant dreams.