Producers were obviously counting on the very novelty of this idea to attract viewers. And hey, it worked! They got me to watch it.
When the trailer hit YouTube earlier this past summer, this movie promised to be even worse than anyone could imagine--cheap, loud, and unfunny. Well, it's certainly cheap. And loud. But I chuckled a few times and ended up ... liking? It?
It doesn't feel like the old TV show, and I'm not sure we needed a Herman Munster origin story--although I did like the pat explanation for his last name, which felt like a parody of the Han Solo movie. Most of the actors stay away from straight imitations of the TV characters, which is a good decision. Jeff Daniel Phillip's Herman is more of a bashful nebbish than Fred Gwynne's, and he's strangely adorable.
I was most surprised by this movie's obstinate innocence. It's never violent, never dirty, and unlike so many other family-friendly films these days, it never relies on gross-out humor for easy laughs. Still, I can't in good conscience recommend this movie. Long stretches are laugh-free, including a scene with Lily and Herman singing "I Got You Babe" in its entirety. Rob Zombie uses the same nauseating, constantly moving camera work he uses on all his pure horror films. But this movie is also nowhere near as bad as anticipated. Play it in the background at your Halloween party. Like, way, way in the background.
When the trailer hit YouTube earlier this past summer, this movie promised to be even worse than anyone could imagine--cheap, loud, and unfunny. Well, it's certainly cheap. And loud. But I chuckled a few times and ended up ... liking? It?
It doesn't feel like the old TV show, and I'm not sure we needed a Herman Munster origin story--although I did like the pat explanation for his last name, which felt like a parody of the Han Solo movie. Most of the actors stay away from straight imitations of the TV characters, which is a good decision. Jeff Daniel Phillip's Herman is more of a bashful nebbish than Fred Gwynne's, and he's strangely adorable.
I was most surprised by this movie's obstinate innocence. It's never violent, never dirty, and unlike so many other family-friendly films these days, it never relies on gross-out humor for easy laughs. Still, I can't in good conscience recommend this movie. Long stretches are laugh-free, including a scene with Lily and Herman singing "I Got You Babe" in its entirety. Rob Zombie uses the same nauseating, constantly moving camera work he uses on all his pure horror films. But this movie is also nowhere near as bad as anticipated. Play it in the background at your Halloween party. Like, way, way in the background.