Rob Zombie's movie reboot of The Munsters TV show is slated to release on Netflix, becoming his first live-action effort to entirely bypass theaters. Based on the classic sitcom of the same name, The Munsters represents a passion project for Zombie, who has a lot of love for the source material. The Munsters movie is easily the most lighthearted directorial work of Zombie's career to date, after making his name helming down-and-dirty horror like The Devil's Rejects and the 2007 Halloween remake.
At the same time, it will be interesting to see what Zombie is capable of when working outside his usual template, as The Munsters has always been a family-friendly property before. Most were willing to give Zombie the benefit of the doubt after he was signed to the project, but the tide of public opinion has definitely shifted since the release of The Munsters' official trailer. The prevailing sentiment after viewing the trailer was that Zombie's movie looks extremely cheap while his interpretations of the characters seem off.
It was announced only a few days after the trailer dropped that Rob Zombie's The Munsters would be bypassing theaters and going directly to Netflix, with a Blu-ray release announced not long after. While Zombie now says that The Munsters going to Netflix was the plan from the beginning and that a theatrical release was never in the cards, it is quite curious as to why no indication of that was ever given during the months of hype that surrounded the production. Either way, The Munsters - now confirmed to be a prequel - going direct to video and streaming is a much better option for all involved, as it likely would have sank like a stone in theaters. Even aside from the widely criticized trailer, The Munsters has always been more of a cult item than a major property, even going back to its rather short original TV run. Expecting the masses to show up for a theatrical release was likely a bridge too far.
Notably, The Munsters movie reboot was dividing the masses before it even began filming, due to the reputation of director Rob Zombie. Zombie has plenty of loyal fans to be sure, even many who have been following his music long before he became a filmmaker. Still, he also has a rather large group of detractors who see Zombie's name being attached to a project as automatic grounds for dismissal altogether. Rob Zombie's divisiveness as a director was of course best exemplified by the polarized reactions to his Halloween remake, which franchise creator John Carpenter was vocally not a fan of.
More recently though, The Munsters trailer tended to divide those who watched into two camps. On Zombie's side were those who pointed out that The Munsters has always been a pretty cheaply made franchise, and that Zombie's obvious sets and garish makeup were in line with the spirit of the original show. Against him were those who felt the clearly low budget, low-grade visual effects, unnaturally saturated colors, and overly bright lighting were distracting and made the movie look more like a parody of The Munsters than a tribute. Especially since many of Zombie's past films have shown off his eye for visual flair. One way or the other, one side will be proven right when the latest reboot of The Munsters brings Mockingbird Lane to Netflix.
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