The Munsters Trailer: Rob Zombie Resurrects The Frightful Family

After months of sneak peeks from the set of Rob Zombie's adaptation of the memorable monster sitcom, "The Munsters," the time has finally come where we're getting our first real look at what he has in store. The film marks a departure from Zombie's usual filmmaking style, which tends to favor gritty and filthy graphic horror with films like "House of 1000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects," and his "Halloween" remakes, but "The Munsters" marks his first foray into family-friendly filmmaking. Even his animated flick, "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" is rated R, just to give you some context. Zombie hinted at the arrival of the teaser trailer yesterday on Instagram when he posted the classic pre-movie bumper for Universal Pictures, paying homage to the time period in which "The Munsters" first debuted.

The beloved sitcom has been delighting audiences for nearly six decades, thanks to a combination of family-friendly hijinks and plenty of monster fun. Rob Zombie has been trying to get a film version of "The Munsters" made for years, and the influence the show had on him has been front-and-center for the entirety of Zombie's professional career. The prolific musician-turned-filmmaker is arguably best known for his song "Dragula," which is a play on the "Drag-U-La" drag racing car Grandpa makes in the episode "Hot Rod Herman." 

Now, we're finally getting the chance to see a bonafide passion project, and it's clear from the teaser that Zombie put his heart and soul into honoring the integrity of "The Munsters." But he wasn't afraid to present the iconic characters in a way that would appeal to current audiences, too.

It's impossible and unfair to compare the performances of Jeff Daniel Phillips (Herman Munster), Sheri Moon Zombie (Lily Munster), and Daniel Roebuck (Grandpa) to that of the original cast, but it's been clear from even the earliest posts from Zombie on Instagram that everyone involved in the project has a great deal of love and respect for the source material. Zombie has never shied away from highlighting horror favorites in his projects, and "The Munsters" was no different.

In addition to the aforementioned trio, "The Munsters" also features performances from Richard Brake ("Game of Thrones"), Catherine Schell ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service"), Sylvester McCoy ("Doctor Who"), Jorge Garcia ("Lost"), Roderick Hill ("The Witcher"), Mark Griffith ("SAS: Red Notice"), Tomas Boykin ("3 From Hell"), Jeremy Wheeler ("Houdini"), Cassandra Peterson ("Elvira: Mistress of the Dark"), Dee Wallace ("E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial"), and one of the original Marilyn Munsters, Pat Priest.

"The Munsters" is due out this Halloween season.