''The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas'' is a 1996 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 ...

featuring characters from the 1960s 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 ...

''. It featured a different cast from the original series, the 1980s revival series ''

The Munsters Today ''The Munsters Today'' is an American sitcom and a revival of the original 1964–66 sitcom ''The Munsters'' that aired in syndication from October 8, 1988, to May 25, 1991. Plot The series concerns the day-to-day life of a family of benign mon ...

'' and the previous 1995 television film ''

Here Come the Munsters ''Here Come the Munsters'' is a television film that aired on Fox October 31, 1995. It stars Edward Herrmann, Christine Taylor and Veronica Hamel. The film tells the story of the Munster family's arrival in the US from Transylvania. This is an ad ...

''. The movie is set around

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

time and included character actor

Sandy Baron Sandy Baron (born Sanford Irving Beresofsky; May 5, 1936 – January 21, 2001) was an American actor and comedian who performed on stage, in films, and on television. Early life Sanford Beresofsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in th ...

as 'Grandpa'. Baron had played Grandpa's older brother Yorga a few years previously in ''The Munsters Today''.

Plot

The movie begins with son Eddie feeling homesick for

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

. Herman decides a "good old Transylvanian Christmas" is what his troubled son needs to get in the mood for the holidays. Together with the family - including Lily, Grandpa and Marilyn, he sends out invitations to the entire Munster family, including

Wolfman In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropy, therianthropic mythological hybr ...

Mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

, and the

Gill-Man The Gill-man—commonly called the Creature—is the main antagonist of the 1954 in film, 1954 black-and-white science fiction film ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' and its two sequels ''Revenge of the Creature'' (1955) and ''The Creature Wal ...

. Herman also asks for a raise from his boss and is fired, taking on other jobs such as modeling nude for an art class, donating blood, and wrapping presents. Meanwhile, on Christmas Eve's eve, one of Grandpa's experiments has gone awry, accidentally transporting

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

and his elves to the

Munster Mansion The Munster Mansion (a title never used in the series), is an exterior set located at Universal Studios. It is most famous for its use in the 1964–1966 sitcom ''The Munsters'', but has appeared in several other productions, both before and af ...

. Christmas faces ruin as there is no way to send Santa home, and the entire family must find a way to save Christmas. Meanwhile, Marilyn falls in love and Lily enters a home decorating contest, with nosy neighbour Edna Dimitty (from the previous Munster movie ''

'') causing trouble. Eddie also faces trouble at school from bullies.

Cast

Main cast

Sam McMurray Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

Herman Munster Herman Munster is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom ''The Munsters'', originally played by Fred Gwynne. The patriarch of the Munster household, Herman is one of Frankenstein’s monsters, created in a lab in Germany in the nineteenth cen ...

Ann Magnuson Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by ''The New York Times'' in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as Lil ...

Lily Munster Lily Munster (née Dracula) is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom, ''The Munsters'', originally played by Yvonne De Carlo. The matriarch of the Munster household, Lily is a vampire. The role was later played by Lee Meriwether in ''The Munster ...

Bug Hall Brandon "Bug" Hall (born February 4, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his childhood roles as Alfalfa Switzer in ''The Little Rascals (film), The Little Rascals'' (1994), Newt Shaw in ''The Big Green'' (1995), and Buster Stupid i ...

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 ...

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 ...

Elaine Hendrix Katherine Elaine Hendrix (born December 28, 1970) is an American actress. She is known for her roles in ''Superstar'', ''Romy and Michele's High School Reunion'', the 1995 ''Get Smart'' series, the 1998 remake of '' The Parent Trap'', ''Dynasty' ...

as Marilyn

Guest cast

Mary Woronov Mary Woronov (born December 8, 1943) is an American actress, published author and figurative painter. She is primarily known as a " cult star" because of her work with Andy Warhol and her roles in Roger Corman's cult films. Woronov has appeared ...

as Mrs. Edna Dimwitty *

Ed Gale Ed Gale (born August 23, 1963) is an American actor and stunt performer who has been working in films and television series since the 1980s. Early life Gale was born with dwarfism. He was born in Plainwell, Michigan, and graduated from Battle C ...

as Larry * Arturo Gil as Lefty * Mark Mitchell as

* Jeremy Callaghan as Tom * John Allen as Mr. Pawlikowski *

Noel Ferrier Noel Ferrier AM (20 December 193016 October 1997) was an Australian television personality, comedian, stage and film actor, raconteur and theatrical producer. He was a regular panelist in Graham Kennedy's popular game show '' Blankety Blanks ( ...

Door Knocker A door knocker is an item of door furniture that allows people outside a house or other dwelling or building to alert those inside to their presence. A door knocker has a part fixed to the door, and a part (usually metal) which is attached to th ...

Bruce Spence Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre. Biography Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...

as Mr. Gateman * Kate Fischer as Pretty Girl in Bar * Patricia Howson as Mrs. Matagrano * Dominic Condon as Spooky Onlooker 1 * Jonathan Biggins as Spooky Onlooker 2 * Alan Zitner as Cop * Daniel Kellie as Glen * Michael Hamilton as Hector Barbieri * Malcolm Mudway as Burly Biker * Donald Cook as Quasimoto, the Hunchback * William Ten Eyck as Biker * David Jobling as Art Teacher

Production

Filming

The movie was shot at

Heathcote Hall Heathcote Hall is a heritage-listed private residence at 1-21 Dillwynnia Grove, Heathcote, Sutherland Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Thomas Rowe and built by Abel Harber. It is also known as Heathcote Hall and Grounds; a ...

, a historic building built in 1887 at

Heathcote, New South Wales Heathcote is a suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Heathcote is located 36 km south of the Sydney central business district in the Sutherland Shire. Heathcote is bordered by Engadine to the north and Wat ...

Broadcast

''The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas'' was originally aired on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

on December 17, 1996. It was acquired by

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

, and was added to their ''

25 Days of Christmas Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas is an American annual seasonal event of Christmas programming broadcast during the month of December by the U.S. cable network Freeform. The event was first held in 1996, and has been an annual fixture of the chann ...

'' line-up on December 15, 2009. It had been previously shown on the cable network

Fox Family Channel The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its hi ...

, which was later renamed ABC Family.

Home media

It was later released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

on November 6, 2007.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munsters' Scary Little Christmas 1996 television films 1996 films 1990s science fiction comedy films American Christmas films The Munsters films Christmas television films American science fiction comedy films Fox network original films Films produced by John Landis Films shot in New South Wales American science fiction television films Films directed by Ian Emes 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Santa Claus in film