''The Munsters' Revenge'' is a 1981 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

based on the 1964–1966 sitcom ''

The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom about the home life of a family of benign monsters that aired from 1964 to 1966 on CBS. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster (Frankenstein's monster),Episodes referring to the fact that Herman is ...

'' which reunited original cast members

Fred Gwynne Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author, who is widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms '' Car 54, Where Are You?'' (as Francis Muldoon) and '' The Munsters'' (as Herm ...

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 Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film star and sex symbol in the 1940s a ...

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, and is therefore the granddaughter of ...

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 ...

by Canadian child actor K. C. Martel. 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 American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

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 and

Grandpa Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, 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 maxi ...

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 flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

tells them that Marilyn and Glenn went to the wax museum but haven't returned. Herman and Cousin

Phantom Phantom, phantoms, or the phantom may refer to: * Spirit (metaphysics), 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 Phanto ...

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 VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

MCA Home Video Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

in 1986 and later by

GoodTimes Home Video GT Media, Inc. 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 classics. The ...

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 Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

through

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

on March 31, 2020 and also in the 2016 complete series of ''The Munsters'' Seasons 1 and 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 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 Films with songs by Burton Lane Universal Pictures films 1980s American films American comedy television films American science fiction television films 1981 science fiction films