Rob Zombie loves to do things his own way. He released the controversial House of 1000 Corpses and the fan-despised Halloween reboot, along with a handful of horror-inspired albums. And even when his stuff does badly, he just keeps making things because it’s fun. And that’s what it’s all about! Also, to be spooked. That’s what it’s about, too.
Zombie’s latest project is the family-friendly adaptation of The Munsters, which dropped on Netflix this week. Even though Zombie is known for his blood-soaked horror, this movie is pretty much as PG as you can get. “A lot of people have said to me: ‘Finally, I can watch one of your movies with my kids,’ which I don’t have kids so that’s kind of meaningless to me. But that’s nice!” Zombie recently told Variety. “This is how I got into everything as a kid. This is for the next wave of monster fans coming our way. This movie is the gateway drug for more hardcore horror.”
The Munsters stars Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily Munster, and Daniel Roebuck as Grandpa Munster, while Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster in the original series, makes a cameo. The movie is supposed to be some wholesome spooky fun, though Zombie was limited in what he could do. Originally, Zombie was looking to make the whole movie black and white as a nod to the original series, but the studio would not let him.
“When they were in the trailer, the studio wanted to take those few moments and make them color because they thought if people see a black-and-white shot they’ll be confused,” Zombie explains. “I’m like, ‘People aren’t that f*cking stupid.’” The movie is fully in color, bright and rich and saturated within an inch of its life, aside from some one-off scenes in black and white.
Though Zombie was unable to make his Munsters as he intended, the director didn’t let it slow him down. “Sometimes you’re dealt a certain scenario. You can walk away from it, but that doesn’t create anything. You figure out how to deal with it,” Zombie says. “Sometimes you create something you would have never created.” And thus, the PG Munsters movie was born, out of something that was never supposed to be created Hey, at least it isn’t Morbius.
The Munsters is now streaming on Netflix.