From writer/director Rob Zombie comes the strangest love story ever told. Lily is just your typical 150-year-old, lovelorn vampire looking for the man of her nightmares . . . that is until she lays eyes on Herman, a seven-foot-tall, green experiment with a heart of gold. It’s love at first shock as these two ghouls fall fangs over feet in this crazy Transylvanian romance. Unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing in the cemetery as Lily’s father The Count has other plans for his beloved daughter’s future, and they don’t involve her bumbling beau, Herman. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll howl at the moon as The Munsters make their way to Mockingbird Lane!

For thoughts on The Munsters, please check out my colleague Mike Vaughn’s review from the streaming release here.

Video Quality

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment brings The Munsters to Blu-Ray with a pretty striking 1080p video presentation. The transfer provides a grand amount of depth on display to give the full scope of Zombie’s vision. The stunning, stylized production design and the fabrics of clothing provide sumptuous textural details. The image is clean with the heightened color palette popping off the screen. The film employs dazzling splashes of colors within the setting and costumes which makes for a psychedelic image. The black levels could potentially be a bit deeper, but it remains stable with not too much in the way of digital noise. Be prepared to see a grand amount of detail present in close-ups, especially when it comes to the texture of makeup. This Blu-Ray will not let you down.

Audio Quality

This Blu-Ray comes with a top notch DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that captures this far-out tale wonderfully. The environmental sounds of the world come alive in the surround speakers in a really pleasing way. The sets feel expansive even if things are kept on a fairly controlled sonic soundscape. There are some really nice ambient details that flesh out the setting. Dialogue is the driving force of the film, and it always comes through crisp and clear without being clipped by any competing sounds. The music in the film radiates out of the speakers in a wonderful, well-balanced way. The onslaught of sound effects provide a terrific engagement to the low end of the track. You cannot really ask for better from this monster.

Special Features

Audio Commentary: Director/Writer/Producer Rob Zombie provides a passionate commentary track in which he discusses his love for the old school Universal logo, why he considers this his chance to make a classic Universal monster movie, what he wanted to accomplish with this adaptation, the famous and not-so-famous faces that are woven into the film, the insane production design, the tone of the film, the nods to the original series and more.

The Munsters – Return To Mockingbird Lane: A terrific 62-minute making-of documentary which covers the production from the earliest days of the initial makeup test to the last day of shooting. One of the best parts of a Rob Zombie film is knowing you are going to get an epic supplemental feature such as this where you follow Zombie throughout the process as he works to bring his vision to life including set construction, the costumes, shot compositions, various on-the-fly creative decisions and more.

Final Thoughts

The Munsters is going to be more polarizing than most, and not in a way that guarantees a more skeezy crowd. The determining factor in your enjoyment of this newest attempt at the franchise is your comfort level when it comes to high camp and cheese. Director Rob Zombie appears to be making a movie for himself filled with people he loves and references that make his heart happy. Those who can get on board with him will be treated to a zany, sweetly inept comedy with a love for the source material. If you cannot get on its wavelength, it will be an interminable mess. Personally, the aesthetic and general tone works as something distinct and wondrous, but there is no denying the film could have shaved off some serious time and had as much attention paid to the plot as it did the visuals. Universal Pictures has provided a Blu-Ray disc that sports a great A/V presentation and a few terrific supplements for those who do decide to check it out. If you are an adventurous movie-lover, it will be fun to see what side you fall on in the end.

The Munsters is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.