Rob Zombie Says Making The Munsters Movie Was Exhausting, And He Won't Make Another One
It's genuinely surprising that the peculiar Transylvanian family residing at 1313 Mockingbird Lane was never updated for modern audiences until 2022. "The Munsters" TV show ran on CBS for only two seasons in the mid-1960s and then sat dormant for decades until Rob Zombie finally revived the series, transforming it into a Technicolor feature film that eventually landed on Netflix. The final product served as more of a prequel to the TV series that focused on the bizarre courtship between Herman (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Lily (Sheri Moon Zombie) before settling down with Lily's grandfather The Count, their son Eddie and their niece Marilyn.
Regardless of whether you're a fan of the 2022 film or not, (/Film's review wasn't exactly kind), Zombie felt like the perfect choice to direct. "The Munsters" was a dream project for the musician and filmmaker who had long been obsessed with the original series and subsequent TV movies featuring Fred Gwynne returning to the Frankenstein-esque role he made famous. For evidence of Zombie's passion for the material, look no further than the MTV Cribs episode showing mountains of memorabilia and an original poster of the 1966 Universal movie "Munster, Go Home!" that advertised "America's Funniest Family in their First Full-Length Feature in Technicolor."
For now, it seems that Zombie has no plans to do a follow-up to his take on "The Munsters" after being put through the wringer just to get the film financed and completed during the pandemic. Zombie has the unique opportunity to go back and forth between directing and making music, and right now he has his sights set on his upcoming summer tour with Alice Cooper and making another record, according to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Zombie's dream project wasn't ideal
Getting any movie made is always an uphill battle, and Zombie has fought hard to get his indie horror filmography in front of audiences for decades. After directing several of his own music videos, Zombie's feature film debut, "House of 1000 Corpses" is somehow celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new Blu-ray and Best Buy exclusive SteelBook from Lionsgate. In short, he's paid his dues as a filmmaker and it sounds like "The Munsters" may be his last film for the foreseeable future, telling EW:
"'The Munsters' was exhausting. That was an exhausting movie to make. It took almost five years of non-stop pushing. And then, being in a foreign country, during the height of COVID, was not as much fun as you would think! So the whole experience was very draining."
The original TV series was filmed on the backlot of Universal Studios, but due to budget restraints, Zombie and crew traveled to Budapest, Hungary to shoot their version. After numerous attempts to get "The Munsters" made, Zombie had to go through a lot of adversity in order to get his vision in front of cameras, and it doesn't sound like he has any intention right now to try and repeat that process all over again.
With multiple films under his belt at this point, Zombie really doesn't have much else to prove, and the loyal fanbase that he's amassed over the years has plenty of his horror movies to revisit until he decides to take on directing again. His only real reason to make a sequel to "The Munsters" is to revisit the iconic characters again, a luxury he was able to enjoy with his Firefly family trilogy of "House of 1000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects," and "3 From Hell."
Zombie doesn't need to make another family film
After making his mark in mainstream franchise horror with "Halloween" and "Halloween II," and making a true backwoods horror classic in "The Devil's Rejects," Zombie seems content to rest on his laurels. He's probably thought about where he could take the Munster family next, but he's adamant about not making another "Munsters" movie:
"I won't and I don't want to. The only reason I would ever want to is because I like making sequels. You have so little time with the first movie to develop these characters. Towards the end of 'The Munsters' film you go, okay, now they're all set, you can really jump in with what they're all about."
With the Firefly trilogy, Zombie got to mold Captain Spaulding, Baby, and Otis into new horror icons, which isn't easy to do. With the "House of 1000 Corpses" 20th anniversary happening now, it's as good a time as any to recognize Zombie's impact on the horror genre. "The Munsters" fulfilled a lifelong dream for Zombie, but there's no need to revisit the characters in a sequel that probably no one is really that interested in seeing, including his diehard fans.