The Munsters teaser trailer: Rob Zombie’s cast recreates sitcom credits sequence

Yesterday, writer/director Rob Zombie promised that a teaser trailer for his feature update of the classic sitcom The Munsters would be released today – and that is exactly what has happened, with Entertainment Weekly getting the exclusive first look. Now you can check out the teaser in the embed above… and while it doesn’t tell us anything about the movie’s plot, it is clever and might bring a smile to the face of Munsters fans. That’s because Zombie has had his cast members Jeff Daniel Phillips (as Herman Munster), Sheri Moon Zombie (as Herman’s wife Lily) and Daniel Roebuck (as Lily’s father The Count) recreate the opening credits sequence of the sitcom. It’s even in black and white! The teaser ends by letting us know that the movie itself will be in color. And gives a sample of the voice Roebuck uses as The Count.

The Munsters ran for two seasons, from September 1964 to May 1966, and consisted of 70 episodes. (You can buy the complete series at THIS LINK.) The show

starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein’s monster and head-of-the-household Herman Munster; Yvonne De Carlo as his wife Lily Munster; Al Lewis as Lily’s father, Grandpa, the somewhat over-the-hill vampire Count Dracula who longs for the “good old days” in Transylvania; Beverley Owen (later replaced by Pat Priest) as their teenage niece Marilyn Munster, who was attractive by conventional standards but the “ugly duckling” of the family; and Butch Patrick as their werewolfish son Eddie Munster.

In addition to the actors featured in the teaser trailer, Zombie’s The Munsters stars Richard Brake as mad scientist Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang, Catherine Schell as a gypsy woman named Zoya Krupp, Jorge Garcia as Herman’s friend Floop, Tomas Boykin as Lily’s werewolf brother Lester, Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson as realtor Barbara Carr, Dee Wallace as the voice of Good Morning Transylvania, Sylvester McCoy as Igor, the loyal servant to the Munsters, and original sitcom cast member Pat Priest – possibly reprising the role of Marilyn! Jeremy Wheeling, Roderick Hill, and Mark Griffith are also in there are Mr. Gateman, Mr. Goodbury, and Mr. Graves, the owners of the Gateman, Goodbury, and Graves Funeral Home.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Zombie said he cast Phillips, Roebuck, and his wife as the lead characters because they have experience working together, so he knew they would be able to fall into their roles easily. He also assures fans of The Munsters that his movie is

100 percent in the spirit of the show. I didn’t want it to be different. I wanted to totally retain the vibe that it had in the ’60s.”

His commitment to retaining the spirit of the show is evident in the film’s PG rating for “macabre and suggestive material, scary images and language”. The movie does stand out from the sitcom by being in color, and Zombie said,

I knew that if I went in and demanded ‘This movie’s going to be in black and white or forget it!’ we would not be talking about the Munsters right now, because it would have never happened. I guaran-f—ing-tee it. But what I did do is I made the colors sort of hyper-real. I noticed when the actors were in their makeup and they were just walking around, getting lunch or whatever, they looked like cartoon characters come to life. They were just so insanely colorful. I was like, I have to light the movie in the same fashion. It really seemed at all times like a live action cartoon, which was really exciting.”

The Munsters will be released this fall by Universal 1440 Entertainment, but a specific release date has not yet been announced.

What did you think of the teaser trailer? Let us know by leaving a comment below.