The Munsters: The Complete Series – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

For kids growing up on a diet of plastic fangs, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines and the Universal Monsters on the Creature Double Feature, The Munsters were the greatest family on TV. Frankenstein as the dad, a vampire for a mom, a werewolf for the son and Dracula for a grandfather certainly beat that normal human family on Father Knows Best. Even with a spooky house filled with horrific faces, the Munsters thought of themselves as the most normal people on the block. They did have a shameful secret to hide from the neighbors: the horribly disfigured niece, Marilyn. The joke being that she was a perfectly gorgeous blond. Even though they hailed from the old country, the family did their best to live the American dream. The Munsters: The Complete Series brings their complete creepy experience inside one box.

Uninformed viewers treat The Munsters and The Addams Family as the same show. Both series debuted the same year and only lasted two seasons, but they are cut from different macabre cloth. The Munsters were a lower middle-class version of The Addams Family. Gomez Addams came from old money. His family were considered eccentrics as they tossed around the cash on outlandish ventures and morbid adventures. Herman Munster (Fred Gwynne) worked in the funeral business. Money didn’t flow out of a stock ticker at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Lily Munster (Yvonne De Carlo) enjoyed being a housewife. She cooked and kept the cobwebs shiny unlike Mortica Addams who had hired help and a detached hand to keep her fingers from being soiled. Eddie Munster (Butch Patrick) had to be kept away from the fool moon. Pugsley and Wednesday Addams were merely destructive like most young kids. Grandpa (Al Lewis) tinkered as a mad scientist when not sleeping upside down. Uncle Fester was more of a science experiment. These shows have as much in common as Silver Spoons and The Honeymooners. The Munsters were the more normal family even with their supernatural origins. Their episodes dealt showed how bad they wanted to fit in with society. They were tired of being chased with torches and pitchforks by the locals.

“Munster Masquerade” puts the family in the one place that they’d be accepted as completely normal: a costume ball. The kicker is when the party guests think that Herman is wearing a mask underneath his party disguise. “My Fair Munster” has Herman thinking that Marilyn’s dates run away because they can’t come to grip with her ghastly looks. Grandpa sneaks her a love potion, but things go really wrong. “Tin Can Man” has Eddie on the verge of flunking science. His last chance at passing is a science fair project. Eddie and Grandpa create a robot. Things go wrong with the mechanical man, but Herman ends up saving the day. “Movie Star Munster” has a pair of con men lure Herman into an insurance fraud scheme. They pose as producers and him think he’s the star of their new feature. They attempt to kill him with stunts gone wrong.

“Mummy Munster” has Herman caught taking a nap inside a sarcophagus at the museum. The archaeologists and historians think he’s the mummy. “Herman’s Happy Valley” has another pack of con-men work their scam on Herman. This time they want him to invest in a ghost town. Except the Munsters fall in love with the dilapidated real estate. How can the con men scare them off their scam land? “Hot Rod Herman” is legendary for it doubled up the Munsters’ cool cars. They always drove around in a boss hearse. But in this episode Grandpa invents the Drag-u-la. It’s a hot rod made out of a casket. Rob Zombie was inspired to write a song about this speedster. “Herman, the Master Spy” has the family go to the beach. Herman swims out too far and gets captured in the net of a Russian boat. The crew is unsure if he’s an American spy or a missing link. “Will Success Spoil Herman Munster?” makes him an overnight singing sensation. The fame goes straight to his head. The family has to deflate his ego without opening up his skull.

The Munsters nails the smoky and dusty dungeon atmosphere of classic horror films. But you never get frightened since Herman is always joyful no matter what’s going wrong in the house. He’s happy to have fresh motor oil flowing through his veins. He’s the perfect overgrown man-child with an infectious smile. The macabre jokes are perfect. During breakfast Grandpa sniffs the air and asks what smell so good. Herman replies, “I cut myself shaving.” This show lived up the humor kids had been absorbing from the back of You’ll Die Laughing trading cards. The Munsters: The Complete Series brings everything together under one box for folks who like to chuckle when they hear something go bump in the night.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. These appear to be the same transfers that were used on the single season box sets. What makes them better than those season sets is that they are no longer contained on flipper discs. The audio is Dolby Digital Mono. You get a good rumble when Herman stomps around in his boots.

Family Portrait – Full Color Episode (25:26) is the first season episode colorized. I’m normally against adding hues to a black and white TV show. I hated it when they did it to McHale’s Navy and Bewitched. The Munsters has become an exception. The color palette chosen doesn’t try to fake us into a Technicolor world. Like the recent colorization on It’s A Wonderful Life, the image is tinted like classic postcards. It underlines the unreality of The Munsters instead of faking us into believing it was filmed in living color. For fans of the show who have already bought the previously released season sets, Universal is offering this special episode on a single DVD along with the original black and white version so you can compare.

Unaired Pilot Episode (13:50) gives a different glimpse of what The Munsters could have been. It’s filmed in color. Instead of Lily, Herman’s wife is Phoebe as played by Joan Marshall (Shampoo). She looks more like Vampira (or Morticia Addams) in her make up. Plus there’s different Eddie.

America’s First Family of Fright (43:02) gives an in-depth history of how The Munsters were created and unleashed on an America that was in love with Universal Horror. Director Ken Burns and his crew document how a show that lasted two seasons became a pop culture phenomenon. You’ll be amazed by all the toys. This along with the three star biographies were taken from Image’s The Munsters: America’s First Family of Fright. They didn’t import all the other bonus features that were used as clips in this documentary.

Fred Gwynne – More Than a Munster (44:02) really does let us know that he was more than another guy following in Boris Karloff’s clunky footsteps. Gwynne was an award winning illustrator of children’s books.

Yvonne DeCarlo – Gilden Lily (44:02) covers her Hollywood career that included being the wife of Moses in Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments.

Al Lewis – Forever Grandpa (44:02) lets him tell his outrageous life that involves acting, politics and cooking. He really did hang out at his Italian restaurant in New York City.

Munster, Go Home! (1:36:14) was theatrically released in the summer of 1966 a mere months after the series was canceled. The movie gives us a color view of the TV’s black and white presentation. The plot has Herman inherit an English estate and the title of Lord Munster. The family heads across the ocean to claim their royalty. There’s a great road race involving the Drag-u-la. This is one of the best feature films based off a sitcom. Marilyn gets another body switch with Debbie Watson in the role. Richard Dawson (Hogan’s Heroes) plays a local. The stellar transfer is 1.85:1 anamorphic.

The Munsters’ Revenge (1:36:04) is a TV movie revival from 1981. The trio of Gwynne, DeCarlo and Lewis slap on the make up. They have new actors playing Marilyn and Eddie. The plot has robot versions of Herman and Grandpa on a crime spree. It’s up to the Munsters to expose the robo-monsters. It’s a cute reunion romp with bad ‘80s hair that’s more entertaining that Van Helsing. The image is 1.33:1 full frame.

The Munsters: The Complete Series is the perfect gift for your creepy relative who enjoys the occasional episode on TVLand. The 70 episodes, two feature films and the documentaries will put them into a monster bliss.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………


Universal Studios Home Entertainment presents The Munsters: The Complete Series. Starring Fred Gwynne, Al Lewis, Yvonne De Carlo, Butch Patrick and Pat Priest. Boxset Contents: 70 episodes and two movies on 12 DVDs. Released on DVD: October 7, 2008. Available at Amazon.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment presents The Munsters: Family Portrait in Full Color. Starring Fred Gwynne, Al Lewis, Yvonne De Carlo and Butch Patrick. Running Time: 51 minutes. Released on DVD: October 7, 2008. Available at Amazon.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.