The Munsters' Revenge

This movie is ridiculous! That's exactly what I like about this piece of "Guilty Pleasure". It is easy to condemn this movie for not including Pat Priest and Butch Patrick, the original Marilyn and Eddie. But look at the year and do the math. Pat Priest and Butch Patrick had long outgrown their parts! Time does that to young stars. Yvonne De Carlo, who re-prised her role as Lili, was pushing the Big 6-0 (even though she still looked good and was still the perfect "Lili").

It's a shame that Yvonne De Carlo wasn't given a larger part. Still, it was good to see Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis in the roles that made them so famous! During the 2 seasons that THE MUNSTERS was on prime time, it was the Gwynne/Lewis chemistry that made the series such a success. The rest of the cast were supporting cast members, not to say that they weren't needed. They were! The TV series wouldn't had survived as long as it did without them. Given the choice between Butch Patrick or Happy Derman (the original "Eddie"), the choice was too easy. Yvonne De Carlo was also the better choice over Joan Marshall.

Though this movie doesn't measure up to the original TV series, it still measures up nicely and is one of the better "reunuin" TV specials that plagued the boob-tube during the late 1970s/early 1980s.

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The Munsters Revenge was a nice return for the original family. I'm not a big fan of TV reunion movies in general but The Munsters Revenge was great.

Herman and Grandpa were back accused of a crime they didn't commit. They had to prove their innocence and there were some nice scenes along the way particularly when Herman and Grandpa were in the police station.

Oh yes, and there's a few villains in the film as well which adds to the enjoyment. This film did have similarities to Carry On Screaming from 1966 and it was just as amusing.

Now when is someone going to release this onto DVD?

As many others have said, this is a very lame movie with stale jokes, poor production values, a bad script, and almost no laugh track. It's a shame that Lily didn't have more screen time, and a shame that Butch Patrick, Pat Priest, and even Beverly Owen didn't at least have cameo appearances. It was a reunion movie, they should have been in it. Instead they focused on characters that had nothing to do with the original series. Sid Ceasar's performance was awful, actually offensive, and the Phantom of the Opera only made the movie worse. Still, it's the last time we get to see the original Munsters, Grandpa, Herman, and Lily, so as a true fan I'm glad they made this movie. I wish it could have been good, but it's better than nothing. I purchased seasons 1&2 as a set from Walmart for $19, which included this movie and "Munster Go Home". It's a great deal.

They've goofed it again. Even though Fred Gwynne detested what his old Herman Munster role did to the rest of his career, he agreed to reprise this wonderful character for an astronomical sum of money. Much to his surprise, the producers were willing to pay it - though as it turned out, Gwynne got the better half of the bargain. As a huge fan of the original MUNSTERS television show I can tell you this one hurts. That is, it's painfully unfunny to watch. I suppose it's better than no reunion at all, but what a shame it turned out so underwhelming.

For starters, the script is downright awful: A mad doctor (Sid Caesar - I'll deal with him later) has an army of monster robots, two of which resemble Herman and Grandpa (Al Lewis, also reprising his part). Sending these automatons out on random crime sprees, it isn't very long before they're mistaken for the real Herman and Grandpa Munster -- and our arrested heroes have to spend the rest of the movie convincing everyone that they're innocent, while trying to foil the doctor's plans.

Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis get the most screen time, which is a small solace, as their old jams together are the only thing worth staying tuned for. What very little satisfaction is squeezed from this revival is due to them. Just the same, they're visibly older and slower, and just don't seem to be as vital as they were on the show. This is certainly understandable, but what's not acceptable is that the jokes are terrible, and the glaring silence where a laugh track ought to be only alerts us to that fact. This brings me back to Sid Caesar, who is more annoying than funny, and adds absolutely nothing to the proceedings as "Dr. Diablo".

Yvonne De Carlo returns as Lily, but she's very under-used and that's probably all for the best. Since this was now the 1980's, the next mistake was in casting some new, "hip" modern-sounding actors to portray little Eddie and a new Marilyn. It would have been much more conceivable to cast the original Butch Patrick and Pat Priest as the now-older versions of their sixties characters. The modern music is also not very nostalgic for fans of the old show, and gets in the way. The feeling one gets from this lost opportunity is that those involved just missed the whole point of what made the original series so delightful to those of us who grew up loving it. Darn, Darn, Darn! ** out of ****

"The Munsters' Revenge" was a reunion movie for SOME of the original cast of the classic TV show. The three leads, Lily, Herman and Grandpa all reprise their roles...a major plus for the film. However, instead of having the original Eddie and one of the original Marilyns, the film kept the characters young and recast them.

The plot is fair. A local wax museum owner is evil. In reality, his wax dummies are robots and he uses them to commit various crimes. But some of them also look like the Munsters and soon Grandpa and Herman are arrested for the crimes committed by their robotic alter egos.

The biggest problem with this film is that it just wasn't written well. It lacks humor and heart and instead just feels as if the three originals are going through the motions. Not terrible...but also not good.