Here come the Munsters! Rob Zombie has been busy on pre-production for his much-anticipated reboot of The Munsters for the past few months, updating fans every step of the way on social media. At this point, filming is all set to get going over in Budapest, Hungary, and ahead of the shoot’s start, the director has finally revealed our first look at the family in full costume, posing on set in front of the clan’s iconic 1313 Mockingbird Lane house.
The black and white image showcases Jeff Daniel Phillips, Sheri Moon Zombie and Daniel Roebuck in character as Herman, Lily and Grandpa Munster respectively. We’ve known all along that Phillips and Zombie would be playing the Frankenstein-like and vampiric parents, but this is our first confirmation that Roebuck – another of the filmmaker’s regulars – is portraying the Dracula-esque oldest member of the family.
“Since Halloween is rapidly approaching I thought it was the perfect time to MEET THE MUNSTERS!,” Rob Zombie wrote in the caption to his Instagram post, shared early this Monday. “Direct from the set in good old Hungary I present Herman, Lily and The Count sitting in front of the newly completed 1313 Mockingbird Lane.”
In the gallery above, you can check out the full cast photo, as well as close-ups of each of the three. These pics make abundantly clear that Zombie has decided to stick as close as possible to the character designs from the 1960s sitcom. The biggest change is the addition of some facial hair for Grandpa, which brings to mind the original description of Count Dracula as having a large mustache in the Bram Stoker novel.
Visually, then, we can say that The Munsters will match the classic show. By the looks of things, there’s even a chance it’ll be in black and white. However, in terms of story and tone, it’s less clear what Zombie’s got planned. Given his previous body of work, you’d expect him to reimagine it as a twisted, R-rated property, but we’ve actually got no evidence that he’s going to do that as yet.
Other cast members include Richard Brake, Jorge Garcia and Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson. When it eventually gets here, The Munsters reboot will have a simultaneous release in theaters and on Peacock.