No one ever said a reboot of The Munsters would be a slam dunk, and the sitcom-esque Netflix film is proving to be an uphill battle for Rob Zombie.
We all know metal god-turned-director Zombie is a longtime Munsters fan. With a music career spanning decades, one of his most popular songs remains 1998’s “Dragula”. The inspiration for the tune happens to be the name of Grandpa’s hot rod from the 1964 Munsters television show. When he performs the song onstage, he even plays footage of the car straight from the original series, so there’s no denying his fandom.
Being a fan and knowing how to update the brand for a modern audience are two separate entities altogether, and the latter is proving to be a challenge. Zombie, who made his directorial mark with slasher horror films House of a Thousand Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, and his own two-part Halloween reboot, saw his first comedy film released on Netflix earlier this week, and so far, the verdict is not good.
After 27 initial reviews, critics have slapped the Rotten label on The Munsters as it scored a dismal 36 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s audience score is marginally better, totaling 37 percent from fans. However, not everyone is railing against Zombie’s latest flick.
Metacritic has the film sitting comfortably with a score of 55 from reviewers, a far better result than other aggregates, at least. Netflix only debuted The Munsters three days ago. Heading into the weekend, more fans should be streaming the movie, which will give us a better idea of whether it’s a hit or a flop.