We have been following Rob Zombie’s take on The Munsters since first announced with cautious excitement. Zombie is a talented filmmaker with a keen eye for aesthetics but he has yet to really knock it out of the park. With his high points being The Devil’s Rejects, House of 1,000 Corpses, and Halloween 2, it was perfect counter-programming and a stroke of genius to hand the reigns of the beloved Universal franchise The Munsters over to him.

The new film is written and directed by Zombie and, of course, stars his wife Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily. She is joined by Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman Munster and Daniel Roebuck as Grandpa Munster. The trailer below gives us an idea of the plot for the new film.  This is pre-family Munsters with Lily looking for the right Monster to call her own. Meanwhile, Grandpa is trying to keep her budding romance with bumbling Herman at bay.  Enjoy.

The Munsters | A Rob Zombie Film | Coming Soon

Let’s start with the promising bits.  Roebuck will be stealing every single scene as Grandpa Munster. From what we can see he is serving a perfect homage to the character created by Al Lewis on the 60’s TV show. Then there is the eye-poping production design and brilliant costumes. Okay cool. Then there is Sheri Moon Zombie is doing her whistful romantic version of Lily and Phillips as Herman. These could go either way. It’s not that these were deep characters, to begin with, but from what we see here Herman and Lily are cartoonish, and Grandpa is a tribute to an icon. Then there is the whacky editing, sound design, and makeup. Sigh.

The Munsters is said to be coming in September although no actual release date or method has been announced. It’s really easy to hate on something new that tries to bank on nostalgia. It’s even easier to hate on Zombie. Still, there are glimmers of hope. This is JUST a trailer. We are excited to see what Zombie and his horror-loving crew have done with these characters and this franchise.

The Munsters will release this September from Universal 1440 Entertainment, a production arm of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. Watch the brand new trailer here.