Rob Zombie's The Munsters

[Haunted hearse]

I disagree with this, actually.  I think if you can make it through the first half hour, which has very little to do with The Munsters, you get some payoff in the rest of the film.  I actively wanted to turn it off in the first part.  I just wasn't getting into it, but it got better.

Too many people come into watching this film, knowing they're not going to like this movie, and as they watch how bad they think it is, they feel they are proven right. I went into the film knowing that it wasn't exactly going to be like the original series. The Previews I thought would have given a pretty good idea what to expect. The color pallet used, how silly it would be, and what to expect. I wasn't disappointed, and I liked what I saw. Another person on youtube despised what he saw with the previews. He said the only reason to watch it, was to hate watch it. The only reason to buy the DVD, if you were a completionist. You must be a really dedicated completionist to buy a film that you dislike. I love Dark Shadows, but seeing Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" in the discount bin, still wasn't any reason for me to buy a copy of a film I'd rather pretend never existed. I know that film has fans, I'm just not one of them. For me, the film was pretty consistent throughout. I just don't see, that it got better as the film went on, because I was fine with the film through it's entire run time. For me, the weakest point of the film was the small animated segment where Lily, Grandpa, and Herman were traveling around Los Angeles. That however, didn't last too long, so for me, it wasn't a big deal.

[aura of foreboding]

Too many people come into watching this film, knowing they're not going to like this movie, and as they watch how bad they think it is, they feel they are proven right. I went into the film knowing that it wasn't exactly going to be like the original series. The Previews I thought would have given a pretty good idea what to expect. The color pallet used, how silly it would be, and what to expect. I wasn't disappointed, and I liked what I saw. Another person on youtube despised what he saw with the previews. He said the only reason to watch it, was to hate watch it. The only reason to buy the DVD, if you were a completionist. You must be a really dedicated completionist to buy a film that you dislike. I love Dark Shadows, but seeing Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows" in the discount bin, still wasn't any reason for me to buy a copy of a film I'd rather pretend never existed. I know that film has fans, I'm just not one of them. For me, the film was pretty consistent throughout. I just don't see, that it got better as the film went on, because I was fine with the film through it's entire run time. For me, the weakest point of the film was the small animated segment where Lily, Grandpa, and Herman were traveling around Los Angeles. That however, didn't last too long, so for me, it wasn't a big deal.

For me, it was all about wanting to see The Munsters, and they were just AWOL from the start.  Just as with Munster, Go Home, I didn't care about scenes that didn't have the Munsters.  Just having Lily doesn't count.  We need the group, and their interactions.  I honestly feel like Munster, Go Home was a big factor in this film.  While Zombie ignored the whole backstory given in the movie, he re-created some of the scenes from this film.  I almost want to call it a remake, but that isn't quite right...  But it's definitely eerily similar, with Transylvania being swapped for England and then the timeline reversed. 

[Haunted hearse]

For me, it was all about wanting to see The Munsters, and they were just AWOL from the start.  Just as with Munster, Go Home, I didn't care about scenes that didn't have the Munsters.  Just having Lily doesn't count.  We need the group, and their interactions.  I honestly feel like Munster, Go Home was a big factor in this film.  While Zombie ignored the whole backstory given in the movie, he re-created some of the scenes from this film.  I almost want to call it a remake, but that isn't quite right...  But it's definitely eerily similar, with Transylvania being swapped for England and then the timeline reversed.

I consider it an alternate universe Munster history, like Rob Zombie's "Halloween" was an alternate universe Michael Meyers story.  Even in the original series we had a lack of continuity. In "Treasure of Mockingbird Heights", having the Munster House being built over Captain Morgan's fort suggests the east coast. Yet other episodes suggest that Mockingbird Heights is out west, and in the episode that Herman tries out for the LA Dodgers, they apparently live in Los Angeles County. Having watched the previous Munster Feature length film, we also changes to the time line. The entire family, except Marilyn, came to America, yet I get from the series that Eddie was born in the states, after Herman had been a soldier in the army during the Second World War, and he married Lily long before he joined the Army. Eddie was unaware of his father being adopted by the Munster Family, yet for him to have inherited the title of Lord Munster, it's not clear when or how the Munster family adopted Herman, and why he and Lily never brought that up to Eddie, until Herman inherited the title. Both "Here Comes the Munsters" and "Munsters Scary Little Christmas" suggest Eddie lived all his life in Transylvania, till he left for the states, but the original story is clear that Eddie would have been born after WW2, and very likely in this country. Also, since Marilyn's parents were established in "Here Come the Munsters", why didn't they make an appearance in "Scary Little Christmas"? Didn't the Munsters move into the house that was still owned by Herman's sister and brother in Law? If this is a story about the Munsters coming to America, then it makes sense to me that Eddie isn't part of the family yet. Also, like "Here Come the Munsters", there must be a reason why the Count is staying with them. Losing his Castle due to his idiot son in law, is probably as valid as Dracula having his Castle taken from him, by the Romanian Government , like in "Love at First Bite". My guess is if Rob Zombie makes a second film, Eddie and Marilyn will be part of it.

[aura of foreboding]

I consider it an alternate universe Munster history, like Rob Zombie's "Halloween" was an alternate universe Michael Meyers story.  Even in the original series we had a lack of continuity. In "Treasure of Mockingbird Heights", having the Munster House being built over Captain Morgan's fort suggests the east coast. Yet other episodes suggest that Mockingbird Heights is out west, and in the episode that Herman tries out for the LA Dodgers, they apparently live in Los Angeles County. Having watched the previous Munster Feature length film, we also changes to the time line. The entire family, except Marilyn, came to America, yet I get from the series that Eddie was born in the states, after Herman had been a soldier in the army during the Second World War, and he married Lily long before he joined the Army. Eddie was unaware of his father being adopted by the Munster Family, yet for him to have inherited the title of Lord Munster, it's not clear when or how the Munster family adopted Herman, and why he and Lily never brought that up to Eddie, until Herman inherited the title. Both "Here Comes the Munsters" and "Munsters Scary Little Christmas" suggest Eddie lived all his life in Transylvania, till he left for the states, but the original story is clear that Eddie would have been born after WW2, and very likely in this country. Also, since Marilyn's parents were established in "Here Come the Munsters", why didn't they make an appearance in "Scary Little Christmas"? Didn't the Munsters move into the house that was still owned by Herman's sister and brother in Law? If this is a story about the Munsters coming to America, then it makes sense to me that Eddie isn't part of the family yet. Also, like "Here Come the Munsters", there must be a reason why the Count is staying with them. Losing his Castle due to his idiot son in law, is probably as valid as Dracula having his Castle taken from him, by the Romanian Government , like in "Love at First Bite". My guess is if Rob Zombie makes a second film, Eddie and Marilyn will be part of it.

All good thoughts!!  I've tried to rationalize away some of these things myself.  But if everything just exists in a separate universe, it makes it easier... except the inconsistencies in the original run! 

[judd]

In the original series it is established lily and Herman have been married for 100 years.  The new film doesn't follow the continuity of the original series

[ODBJBG]

Too many people come into watching this film, knowing they're not going to like this movie, and as they watch how bad they think it is, they feel they are proven right.

Nah. I can assure you, that is not the case with the vast majority of people who don't like it.

As most have pointed out and I did as well, while the trailer was comically abysmal, the problems with the trailer were not at all the problems with the movie. Both things are terrible and bad, but for vastly different reasons.

The trailer was poorly edited, with bad audio and looked really cheap.

The film doesn't look cheap for the most part, and it's edited in a coherent way (plot and pacing issues aside) and the audio mix is fine. It's just really poorly written, acted (with a couple of exceptions) and directed.

I don't think anyone felt vindicated or had confirmation bias. It's not a matter of if it was too close to the original series or not close enough. While I'm sure SOME people will never like anything short of the original, most were open to a new interpretation on some level. But it's just a bad movie, with almost zero humor (for a comedy), no drama, inconsistent plot points and characterizations.

I watched it with my wife who has zero preconceived notions about the film, had no idea who directed it and just wanted to watch a fun Halloween flick. She told me it was one of the worst movies we had ever watched (and boy does that cover a lot of ground) and she didn't like anything about the movie itself, characters, plot, pacing, etc. She had no issue with the FX or makeup or it not being closely tied to the original.

The trailer didn't poison the well because a lot of people would have given it a break if it cleared the low bar set by the trailer. It was just awful in ways people hadn't imagined and was probably worse than the trailer indicated because the trailer was almost Ed Wood level bad whereas the actual film doesn't even have that redeeming charm.

[Haunted hearse]

I don't think anyone felt vindicated or had confirmation bias. It's not a matter of if it was too close to the original series or not close enough. While I'm sure SOME people will never like anything short of the original, most were open to a new interpretation on some level. But it's just a bad movie, with almost zero humor (for a comedy), no drama, inconsistent plot points and characterizations.

For a film with  "zero humor", I found myself laughing in spots. From comments I've read, I'm not alone in liking the film. If enough people like it. it will no doubt get a sequel. If not enough people like it, no doubt eventually, someone will give us their take on the Monster Family from Mockingbird Heights.