WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Munsters (2022).The creation of the iconic Herman Munster in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters movie includes several major differences from the original sitcom. The patriarch of the title family, Herman Munster is inspired by the classic Frankenstein’s monster, with the rest of the Transylvanian characters also taking inspiration from stories like Dracula, The Wolf Man, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. Considering Herman is based on Frankenstein’s monster, his origins and the circumstances of his creation are quite similar in the sitcom, but Rob Zombie’s The Munsters prequel is less faithful to the source.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
The Munsters’ 1960s TV show revealed that Herman was created by the original Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who even gave Herman away at his wedding to Lily. According to the sitcom, Herman was created in a German lab in the 1800s, and he wasn’t the only monster that the Frankenstein family created. It’s unclear how Herman Munster got his name in the original Munsters show, but a visit from Dr. Victor Frankenstein IV reveals that his great-grandfather’s other creations had names like Charlie and Johann. Despite a few key details being changed, The Munsters’ sitcom wrote Herman’s origins to connect to the story from Universal’s Frankenstein movie.
The origins of Herman Munster are quite different for Rob Zombie’s The Munsters character, especially in terms of how the iconic character received his name. The Munsters begins with the process behind Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang creating a man with his assistant Floop, with the experiment being performed in Transylvania rather than Germany. Once the creature is zapped to life, Floop gives him his first name “Herman” after a pet spider he liked and the last name “Munster” after the cheese on his sandwich. Considering Herman isn’t created by Dr. Frankenstein and there are no other known models from the same blueprints, The Munsters movie is much further removed from Universal’s original monster story. In fact, Lily and The Count don’t even have the surname Dracula in Zombie’s prequel, indicating the 2022 movie largely dropped the original Munsters sitcom’s loose connections to the characters from the Universal Classic Monsters franchise.
Why Herman Was Never Called Frankenstein’s Monster In The Sitcom
The Munsters’ 1960s TV show revealed that Herman was, in fact, created by Dr. Victor Frankenstein, but that he’s not the Frankenstein’s Monster. Rather, the original Frankenstein’s Monster was the scientist’s first creation who seemingly went by the name Johann, with Herman and his twin brother Charlie being later models based on Johann’s blueprints. As such, while Herman was technically a monster created by Frankenstein, he was not the original, so it was his “cousin” Johann who likely received that moniker.
Unless Dr. Wolfgang and Floop make more creatures after The Munsters’ ending, then Rob Zombie’s adaptation leaves Herman without any direct family members. Rather, it seems that if a sequel to the 2022 movie is made, all of the Munsters’ extended family will have to be from Lily and The Count’s side. It’s unclear why Rob Zombie’s The Munsters doesn’t include Herman’s connection to Dr. Frankenstein, but the change in his origins effectively establishes the 2022 reboot as a separate entity from the beloved original sitcom.