''The Munsters' Revenge'' is a 1981 American
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
based on the 1964–1966 sitcom ''
The Munsters
''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...
'' which reunited original cast members
Fred Gwynne
Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' as Francis Muldoon and as Herman Munster in ''The Munsters'' ...
,
Yvonne De Carlo
Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Hollywood film star in the 1940s and 1950s, made several recordings, and late ...
and
Al Lewis. It was the last film made with most of the original actors from the 1960s TV series.
Marilyn Munster
Marilyn Munster is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom ''The Munsters'', originally played by Beverley Owen and later by Pat Priest. In the original series, she is the daughter of Lily Munster's sister, with Herman alluding to her "plain" l ...
was portrayed by
Jo McDonnell and
Eddie Munster
Eddie Munster is a fictional character on the CBS sitcom ''The Munsters''. He was portrayed by Butch Patrick in all episodes of the original series except for the pilot, where he was portrayed by Happy Derman. The only child of Herman and Lily M ...
by Canadian child actor
K. C. Martel
''Growing Pains'' is an American television sitcom created by Neal Marlens that aired on ABC from September 24, 1985, to April 25, 1992. The show ran for seven seasons, consisting of 166 episodes. The series followed the misadventures of the Se ...
. The film was directed by
Don Weis
Don Weis (May 13, 1922 – July 26, 2000) was an American film and television director.
Biography
Weis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Emma (née Wiener; 1889–1971) and Meyer Weis (1886-1942). He graduated from the University of Southern ...
(which was his last film) and originally aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
on February 27, 1981.
Plot
The Munster family visits a local wax museum where they have made wax replicas of them. As the museum closes, a scientist activates his controller, causing some of the figures (which are actually robots) to move. The robots of
Herman
Herman may refer to:
People
* Herman (name), list of people with this name
* Saint Herman (disambiguation)
* Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman
Places in the United States
* Herman, Arkansas
* Herman, Michigan
* Herman, Min ...
and
Grandpa
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic gra ...
terrorize some citizens and steal their items. The next morning, police arrive at the Munster home to arrest Herman and Grandpa for theft and lock them up, but the two escape, steal the police chief's car, and head over to the wax museum after hours in hopes of clearing their names.
When the scientist activates the robots, Herman and Grandpa deactivate their replicas and pretend to be the robots. There they find a laboratory where Dr. Dustin Diablo mentions a plan for later. They're taken by a moving van until they stop in front of a pizzeria. As they get out, they see a suitcase of money being exchanged between the owner and the scientist. The van then leaves, forcing them to sneak back home. There they meet Glenn, a rookie detective and the police chief's son, who was convinced by Marilyn to help them clear their names. They tell Glenn about the laboratory, but when he goes to search the wax museum, the robots are replaced and the laboratory is gone, much to the chagrin of his father.
Herman and Grandpa dress up as waitresses and infiltrate the pizzeria and wait until the owner meets up with an accomplice and leaves. They follow him back to the wax museum where, pretending to be the robots, they hear about Dr. Diablo's plan to rob the jewels of a pharaoh mummy being displayed at the museum on Halloween. Grandpa comes up with a plan to use a life rejuvenation serum on the mummy to bring him back to life and have him capture the gang, except that the serum is back in Transylvania. After sneaking aboard a plane, they make it to Grandpa's old laboratory where they meet his old assistant Igor just before he dies. Grandpa injects the serum into Igor, causing him to live and become young enough to where he won't be killed by angry villagers.
Herman and Grandpa make it back home just before Halloween where a number of relatives have arrived for the celebration.
Lily
''Lilium'' () is a genus of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. They are the true lilies. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in mu ...
tells them that Marilyn and Glenn went to the wax museum but haven't returned. Herman and Cousin
Phantom
Phantom may refer to:
* Spirit (animating force), the vital principle or animating force within all living things
** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living
Aircraft
* Boeing Phantom Ray, a stealthy un ...
make their way there and find them captured in a shatterproof container. A very high note from Cousin Phantom eventually breaks the container allowing Marilyn, Glenn and Herman to meet Grandpa at the museum. Grandpa administers the serum to the mummy while Marilyn steals the controller, rendering the robots useless. As Dr. Diablo tries to get the jewels, the mummy grabs him until the police arrive, helping vindicate Glenn. It is later revealed that Herman is the mummy, as Grandpa gave the real mummy too much serum causing him to be three years old.
Cast
Main cast
Home media
''The Munsters' Revenge'' was first released on
VHS by
MCA Home Video
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
in 1986 and later by
GoodTimes Home Video
GoodTimes Entertainment, Ltd. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and ...
on November 7, 1996. It is available in the US on a 2006 DVD double-feature known as Two-Movie Fright Fest alongside ''
Munster, Go Home!
''Munster, Go Home!'' is a 1966 American comedy film based on the 1960s family sitcom ''The Munsters''. It was directed by Earl Bellamy, who also directed a number of episodes in the series. The film was produced immediately after the television ...
''.
It is available on DVD in Region 4 as part of 'The Munsters Collection' boxset which was released August 3, 2016.
It was re-released along with Munster, Go Home! on
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
through Shout Factory on March 31, 2020 and also in the 2016 complete series of The Munsters seasons 1 & 2 as dvd extras on the last disc of season 2.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munsters Revenge, The
1981 television films
1981 films
1980s science fiction comedy films
The Munsters films
NBC network original films
American science fiction comedy films
Television series reunion films
Films based on television series
Films directed by Don Weis
Films scored by Vic Mizzy
Universal Pictures films
1980s American films