With the new teaser trailer for Rob Zombie’s The Munsters released on June 8th, audiences may recognize some of the cast members for other memorable performances. Some have worked with Zombie before, while for others this is their first time.
Many of the cast members have experience in the horror genre. The cast has been in everything from The Return of the Pink Panther to ET The Extra-Terrestrial to Doctor Who. There is a broad spectrum of different experiences and talents that lend themselves to Zombie’s latest project.
Sheri Moon Zombie – House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Sheri Moon Zombie is playing Lily Munster (Herman’s wife) in The Munsters. This will not be her first project with Zombie, her husband, as she has appeared in numerous projects of his. One of her most memorable includes Baby in House of 1000 Corpses. The film is about a couple traveling around Texas looking for urban murder legends who end up imprisoned by the serial killing Firefly family.
Moon Zombie’s Baby is very childlike and lures unsuspecting victims by flirting with them. The innocent façade she puts on is deeply unsettling. In a way, she is smarter than she presents herself to be because she knowingly acts this way to attract victims. Baby is a complex villain who seems more simple than she actually is. Her innocence and flirting mask her vicious killing.
Jeff Daniel Phillips – Westworld (2016)
Streaming on HBO MAX
Jeff Daniel Philips will be playing Herman Munster in The Munsters, the gentle Frankenstein’s Monster-like patriarch. Philips has many past projects including one involving Zombie, however, one of his most well-known roles is Tenderloin in Westworld. Westworld is based on the Crichton novel of the same name and is about a wild west amusement park with human-like robots where guests can act out their fantasies.
Philip’s Tenderloin is the total opposite of Herman Munster. Where Herman is kind and gentle, Tenderloin is a hardened violent criminal. They do have one similarity though, they are both not completely human. Tenderloin is a robot at the Westworld theme park and Herman a monster made from corpses. It really shows Philip’s range that he is able to play such different non-human characters.
Daniel Roebuck – The Man in The High Castle (2015-2016)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Daniel Roebuck is playing Grandpa Munster in The Munsters. While Roebuck has done an assortment of movies and TV series, one of his more memorable performances is Arnold Walker in The Man in the High Castle. The show was about an alternate dystopian United States ruled by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan where a woman discovers a film that could put them out of power.
Roebuck as Arnold Walker was a complicated character – a man who hid that he worked for Japanese intelligence due to his family’s anti-Japanese stance. He doesn’t do this out of malice, however, instead doing it to care for his family. This role shows that Roebuck can play characters with conflicting allegiances and complex motivations, while still being sympathetic.
Cassandra Peterson – Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Cassandra Peterson is playing Barbara Carr, a real estate agent in The Munsters. Peterson has had a long career primarily playing her alter ego Elvira, a horror host. In 1988 Elvira got her own movie, Elvira: Mistress of the Darkwhich was about her inheriting a decrepit mansion in a small town, going up against the evil warlock Vincent, and facing residents who want to have her burned at the stake.
Peterson as Elvira is a very over-the-top and comical alter ego that is made very sympathetic in this film. Her dark outward countercultural persona makes Elvira an outcast in the small town she moves into. This makes the audience really root for Elvira to succeed. The film isn’t heavy-handed though, as there are lots of sight gags, puns, and parody scenes. This film shows how well Peterson can successfully carry a movie.
Dee Wallace – ET the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Streaming on Peacock
Dee Wallace plays the Good Morning Transylvania Host in The Munsters. Wallace has had a lengthy and varied career in TV and film. One of her most well-known roles is Mary, the mother in Steven Spielberg’s best alien film ET the Extra-Terrestrial. The film is about a kind alien who is taken in by a young boy named Elliot and his family, however, things turn bad when the government intervenes.
Wallace’s character is very protective of her family both because she is unsure of ET and when the government agents come to their home. While she doesn’t trust ET at first, this is understandable as her son is very ill and ET is a strange creature she has never seen before. ET the Extra-Terrestrial shows Wallace is capable of playing a sympathetic mother.
Pat Priest – The Munsters (1964-1966)
Streaming on Peacock
It is unknown what role Pat Priest will be playing in the upcoming film of The Munsters. She took over the role of Marilyn Munster in the original series.
Priest’s Marilyn Munster is an unusual character in The Munsters. She is a conventionally attractive young woman who believes herself to be ugly because she doesn’t look like a monster like the rest of her family. This is an interesting twist her being the outcast of the family. Anywhere else she would be seen as normal and very pretty but not so in her family. It will be interesting to see if Priest reprises her role or if she will take on a different role entirely.
Jorge Garcia – Lost (2004-2010)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Jorge Garcia plays Floop in The Munsters. Garcia has played a variety of different recurring characters throughout his career, but one of the roles he is most well known for is Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes in Lost. The series is about the survivors of a plane crash having to survive together on a mysterious island.
Garcia as Hurley in Lost has a tragic past but is one of the happiest and most positive survivors on the island. Hurley is very friendly to the other members of the island and proves himself as a leader as time goes on. Despite his issues with survivor’s guilt and mental illness, they didn’t impact his ability to be the voice of reason on the island. Garcia is capable of playing a complex, multilayered, sympathetic protagonist.
Richard Brake – Doom (2005)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Richard Brake is playing Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang in The Munsters. Brake has many horror credits including some Zombie parts, however, he is most known for playing Dean Portman in Doom. This film based on the video game franchise of the same name is about space marines sent to investigate unusual goings-on at an outpost on Mars.
Brake’s Dean Portman is not the most likable of characters. He is a sociopath with a very disturbing sense of humor, sexually harasses women, and tortures prisoners during experiments. Portman also has a memorable death scene involving being bashed through the walls of a bathroom. This role shows that Brake is not afraid to play very unlikable characters.
Catherine Schell – The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Catherine Schell is playing Zoya Krupp in The Munsters. Schell has a long and varied career, but one of her most memorable roles was Lady Claudine Litton in The Return of the Pink Panther. The movie is about Inspector Clouseau investigating the disappeared Pink Panther Diamond again.
Schell’s Lady Claudine Litton is an unusual villain. The wife of the thief from the first Pink Panther movie, she steals the diamond for no other purpose than for fun. This is interesting because the obvious reason would be to frame her husband who stole the diamond in the previous film, but it wasn’t.
Sylvester McCoy – Doctor Who (1987-1989)
Streaming on BritBox
Sylvester McCoy is set to take on the role of Igor in The Munsters. McCoy is best known for playing the Seventh Doctor on Doctor Who.
McCoy as the Seventh Doctor was very complex. Originally thought to be clownish and bumbling, this was slowly revealed over time to merely be a cover for his highly manipulative tendencies. These darker leanings extended to his treatment of his companion Ace, who he would sometimes manipulate as part of his schemes.
