Shucks, it’s great to see you!
Ugh.
I really disliked the TV show, a cheap knockoff of The Addams Family, itself an enjoyable yet sanitized version of the Chas. Addams cartoons. Now a movie??
i agree. i was never a Munsters fan, much preferring the Addams Family as far as tv fare goes. even as a kid, they seemed too goofy for me, whereas Addams’ humor was more sly.
Actually…it wasn’t a cheap knock-off. The Munsters were a way for Universal to cash in on the nostalgia craze for their monsters of the 1930s.
Both series were created to cash in on the general macabre, “sick humor” trend that could also be seen in MAD magazine, among other places.
Both series had families that were taken as eccentric, but the only reason folks wanted to get rid out of their respective neighborhoods seemed to be to get their land - not because they were outrageously weird.
I see the Munsters as being more blue-collar, is all. Can you imagine if they’d done a crossover? And @Franko, there’s sly humor in TMs, too. Maybe you missed it?
But that’s just me.
I never thought of it that way! I guess the Boris Karloff monster makeup was Universal’s property but as a kid I didn’t know about such things, so thought it was just a knockoff (god forbid I should accuse network TV of doing such things).
And it a definite craze as you said. I put together monster kits back then, and had Basil Wolverton trading cards. And there was a local version of Vampira’s Shock Theater in Honolulu in the '60s. There was also The Beard’s Weird Movie, hosted by a popular local DJ (but that was more 1950’s B sci-fi movies). I loved both.
like @kxkvi, it never occurred to me that they were cashing in on their other “monster” properties, but of course they were. makes total sense! i agree with you that they were definitely more of a blue collar version of the Addams Family. it’s not a bad thing, but their slapsticky humor felt more akin to vaudeville to me, playing large to the seats in the back.
if there was any sly humor in the Munsters, i’d love to see an example, because i definitely missed it. then again, i was a kid! the Addams Family humor plays on different levels depending on what age you were (are) when watching… i still find them clever and amusing, but for very different reasons than when i was 7.
But it’s not just The Munsters. It’s Rob Zombie’s The Munsters! Complete with a poorly made trailer and goofy humor. Puzzling indeed. 
Soylent Green is TACOS!
We got to see this in person on a number of occasions when we were in Salt Lake City many years ago – it was the Rio Grande Restaurant. I’m amazed it’s still there (which I assume from the lad’s use of a mask).