When is Rob Zombie’s The Munsters coming to Netflix?

Speculation has run high about the Rob Zombie adaptation of The Munsters ever since news of the upcoming film was released last March. Since that time, a lot of rumors have been thrown around, including that the film would be released simultaneously in theaters and on Peacock.

The first social media battle over The Munsters involved the news that Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, had been cast as Lily Munster. This particular argument was nothing new when it comes to Rob Zombie films: it’s been well-established that he casts Sheri in nearly all of his films.

But, of course, fans LOVE to argue about these things. And, while it’s true that she will probably never give an Academy Award-worthy performance, it didn’t seem like anyone should have been surprised at this announcement.

A more recent firestorm was ignited by the trailer that was released on July 13. Not surprisingly, there were two opposing sides in this particular war, with one side declaring they were excited about the film, and the other side giving scathing comments about how Zombie was tarnishing the legacy of The Munsters. The trailer is high-camp and presented in vivid color (the original series, which ran in the mid-sixties, was filmed in black and white), with a lot of over-the-top acting, and seems unlike anything else Zombie has created before – his films tend to be brutal, bloody, hard R-rated fare.

The Munsters series was a satire of typical American family life, and did not have as dark a tone as the similarly-themed The Addams Family, which ran during the same period of time.

All of this brings us to the most recent drama involving The Munsters: the release announcement. Fans were stunned to hear that instead of the theatrical release everyone was expecting, the film will be released to Blu-ray, DVD and VOD on September 27, before making its exclusive debut on Netflix shortly thereafter.

Cue the social media frenzy, of course. The haters came out in full force, insisting that this was not the plan from the beginning, that the poorly received trailer had resulted in the decision to pull the film from theaters. Rob Zombie spoke out on July 20, saying The Munsters was never going to theaters or to Peacock. He said, “It was always being made for Netflix, which is fine, since it is the largest of the streaming services.”

Zombie also debunked rumors that the film cost $40 million to make, claiming that if we added up the budgets for Halloween 2, 3 From Hell, Lords of Salem and The Munsters together, the total would be under $30 million.

Although there is no date set for The Munsters’ Netflix premiere, we are told it will be available this fall, most likely coinciding with the release of  Wednesday, Tim Burton’s Addam’s Family spinoff series, also coming to Netflix.

Based on the trailer and the information that has been released, do you give The Munsters a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down? Tell us all about it in the comments section.