501: The Munsters

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_01]: 208. Let's get to the last Rob Zombie film to date, which is The Munsters,

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_01]: which is a Netflix original, came out in 2022,

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_01]: stars

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_01]: mainly the same group of actors, you got Jorge Garcia in there, Sylvester McCoy, Cassandra Peterson,

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_01]: few others, and

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_01]: the synopsis is

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_01]: a reboot of The Munsters that followed a family of monsters who moves from Transylvania to an American suburb.

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: So this one was a first-time watch for me,

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_01]: and it was the last one that I watched of Rob Zombie's films just because I went in order for the show.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I remember when it was announced and people were thinking, wait, this isn't a classic Rob Zombie horror film,

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's really a kids film because it's still very Rob Zombie,

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: so I don't think a lot of kids would actually enjoy it just because of how bizarre it is,

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01]: but it really is a very, very campy

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: comedy horror film, so a complete departure from all of his previous work.

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: I had heard mixed things about it both critically and

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: audience-wise. One thing, I'm really glad that

[00:01:18] [SPEAKER_01]: this was released via Netflix because I know that if this was put out in theaters, it would have bombed

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_01]: horribly, and I think even when it was on

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Netflix, it didn't get a huge viewership right off the bat, but I'm glad that this has more of a chance to

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: be seen by a bigger audience than if it was in theaters, then on demand,

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: nobody would or very few people would rent it or buy it and it would just be completely

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: swept under the rug because

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe it's crazy to say, I know some people really, really love it,

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I know some people really, really hate it, but this is very close to being my favorite Rob Zombie film.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And I could see it on rewatch. I could see it possibly surpassing Lords of Salem.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I think I like it slightly more than the unrated director's cut of Halloween 2, so it would be

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Lords of Salem, The Monsters and Halloween 2 ranking-wise for top three.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: I could not believe how much fun I had with this movie and it has been so long

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_01]: since I've seen a film that is so confidently, passionately campy and silly and innocent and it shows

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: more so than almost any other Rob Zombie film, it shows his love of Halloween, the holiday, not just the movies,

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_01]: of haunted houses, of crazy costumes, of classic monsters, of The Monsters, the show and

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_01]: everything in between. Like it is one that I know for sure that if you aren't aware of Rob Zombie,

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_01]: if you don't know The Monsters or if you don't like really campy gothic horror,

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_01]: most people I think could watch five minutes of this and turn it off because it looks too tacky.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_01]: And it does look tacky, but for me it is in the best way and

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: really the only other film that I can think of recently in the same vein is

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Tim Burton's Dark Shadows.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_01]: But this one is very much a smaller budget, which is The Rob Zombie Way.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_01]: The production and costume design is, and yes it does look like at times

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: that we're just watching almost like a theatrical stage play that just happens to be caught on video or like home video stuff,

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_01]: but knowing the background of

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_01]: what went into this film and the concept and the origin, that worked so well for me.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I was saying circling back around, the production and costume design is so good. It's so colorful.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Some standout sequences would be the Scientist Laboratory like the Frankenstein-esque laboratory,

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_01]: the look of the village where you see

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Sherry Moon Zombie wandering around and there's that mishmash of neon lights and signs and it's really

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_01]: almost the whole movie feels like you're in some kind of backdoor haunted house or Halloween shop.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: The look of the castle, the fog on the floor and all the torches and the super colorful vivid

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: backlighting,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the dining room of the Munsters couple.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Really one of the best if not the best is the look of the Devil's Island Hotel, I believe it is on the beach.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: And he feels like he's really mixing you could say

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Tim Burton, Guillermo del Toro and then of course the classic monster films from the 30s and 40s.

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Then performance wise everybody seems to be having so much fun with it.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Sherry Moon Zombie, I know I talk about her really every time but she's one of the lead actors. This is

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: right on par with Lords of Salem for me.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Like the design of the character, the hair, the makeup, the costume is spot-on but

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_01]: she shows that she has a versatility. She may not have a

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: Oscar-winning performance under her belt as of yet, but she can go from the crazy

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_01]: psychopath horror to restraint

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_01]: grounded characters like in Lords of Salem and then she can play the silly campy stuff in the Munsters.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_01]: She is

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01]: so charming and

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: entertaining, charismatic, fully committed to that role that every time she was on screen I was fully engaged having so much fun with it.

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Some broader things the score is great the soundtrack as well the

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: I Got You Babe

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_01]: montage is definitely a highlight of all that.

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And overall the movie just has a very

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: authentic enjoyable vaudeville sort of vibe.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I was also worried about the runtime, it's almost two hours and I was thinking oh man

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_01]: this is gonna wear out so easily and maybe that's a criticism from people who don't like the movie but

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_01]: after about the first 10 minutes or so where you're getting the feel of it, I was fully on

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: board with it the whole time. I was never really bored and

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_01]: honestly, I wish it could have gone on longer because every single scene

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_01]: there was some sort of visual treat Halloween treat to enjoy and if not that then it was a

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: ridiculous comedy horror moment or a homage.

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It was honestly such a good mood booster

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01]: and if we're being real here like if we're gonna be friends this probably would have been on my top 10 list in

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: 2022 to be transparent.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's crazy to say but that's how I felt and still feel.

[00:07:25] [SPEAKER_01]: I definitely do get like I was mentioning earlier if it's not a style of movie for you

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: it's not for you. Rob Zombie will always be niche no matter what kind of film that he makes because

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_01]: he's always going to be himself as a filmmaker and that is

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: incredibly refreshing, incredibly rare in this day and age someone who is unafraid to be themselves and show their true

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_01]: passions and love especially when it comes to the history of cinema of campy horror or whatever might be. I

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_01]: really have come to enjoy Rob Zombie a lot more after having watched all these movies together than when I would just watch

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_01]: one-offs every now and then.

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_01]: So that one is a heavy heavy four out of five

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_01]: probably will go up over time maybe a five out of five someday

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, but we'll see either way. I love it.