WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for The Munsters (2022).Rob Zombie’s The Munsters movie ends with a new chapter for the title family while explaining a few mysteries from the original series. The Munsters (2022) is a prequel/reimagining of the iconic 1960s sitcom, which followed the title family made up of classic monsters. However, rather than showing Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie, and Marilyn already living on 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Zombie’s The Munsters movie goes back in time to depict the Transylvania-set love story between the newly-created monster Herman and lovestruck 150-year-old vampire Lily.
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The Munsters begins with Herman Munster being created in Transylvania by Dr. Wolfgang and his assistant Floop, who accidentally use the brain of a “moron” comedian instead of a “genius.” Herman soon develops a knack for show business, with Lily seeing him on TV and instantly falling in love. The two quickly meet and embark on a romantic love story, but Lily’s vampire father The Count tries to keep them apart so that she can marry a rich man instead. Meanwhile, Lily’s brother Lester owes money to The Munsters' new character Zoya Krupp, the "gypsy queen" who devises a revenge scheme to acquire the deed to The Count’s castle. Before the end of The Munsters, Lily and Herman are married and the castle is stolen away, meaning the family has to leave Transylvania for America.
Rob Zombie’s prequel ends with Lily, Herman, and The Count finally moving to America and buying the eerie 1313 Mockingbird Lane mansion. While settling into their new neighborhood on Halloween night, Herman is offered a job working at a funeral parlor, with Lester soon showing up and revealing he’s become rich from gambling in Las Vegas. The Munsters concludes with the characters experiencing the bizarre culture shock of the human-infested Los Angeles suburbs, which is far more terrifying than their normal home in Transylvania. While The Munsters movie’s ending brings the family much closer to where they are when the sitcom begins, there is still ample time before Eddie and Marilyn come along, indicating a sequel could be in store.
Why The Munsters Moved To Los Angeles
While The Munsters’ original sitcom wasn’t always clear about where Mockingbird Heights was located, several episodes indicated it was in the suburbs of Los Angeles. As such, it was largely a mystery as to why Herman, Lily, and The Count decided to move from Transylvania to America and ultimately the Hollywood area. Rob Zombie’s prequel movie reveals that Los Angeles was chosen for its association with show business, particularly TV comedians. Herman had dreams of being a star on TV like the original Munsters character Zombo, so once it was revealed that the Transylvania castle was gone, they set their eyes on Hollywood. While The Count likely would have preferred to stay in Transylvania, he and the Munsters' servant Igor had nowhere to live once Zoya Krupp had stolen the castle. Even if Herman objected to Lily’s father moving in with them, The Count could simply reiterate the fact that Herman was the one who accidentally signed over the deed and lost his home.
Despite Herman and Lily’s reason for moving to Los Angeles being for dreams of show business, The Munsters sitcom reveals this won't come to fruition. Instead of going on auditions or performing comedy shows, Herman gets a job moving bodies for a local funeral home, which is where he still works during The Munsters’ original series. Perhaps Herman gives up on his pursuit of being a Hollywood star before Eddie and Marilyn arrive, as there’s no indication that Fred Gwynne’s Herman still wants to be an actor.
The Munsters Ending Reveals How The Family Afforded Their Mansion
Another big mystery in The Munsters’ original sitcom was how the family had acquired so much money. It was assumed that they had old family money in Transylvania considering they lived in a castle, but it was still curious as to how they afforded the Mockingbird Heights mansion when Herman was the only character with a full-time job. However, Rob Zombie’s The Munsters movie ends with Lester arriving at the mansion and giving Herman a cut of his winnings from a deal in Las Vegas. While the prequel doesn’t explain how much money Herman was actually given, Lily and The Count are shocked and proclaim that they’re rich. The money seemingly doesn’t last too long, as the Munsters are depicted as a working-class family in the 1960s TV show.
Igor’s The Munsters Ending Is Secretly Really Sad
In Rob Zombie’s The Munsters movie, Igor is The Count’s faithful and jittery servant. In an exciting twist, the 2022 movie reveals that Igor is the same character as Grandpa’s pet bat in the 1960s sitcom. Shortly before The Munsters’ ending, The Count devises a plan to turn Igor into a bat so that he can cleverly bring him with them to America. Once they arrive, The Count says he's working on finding a spell to turn Igor back into his human form, but The Munsters sitcom reveals the sad truth about this ending. Igor is still in bat form all throughout The Munsters’ original series, indicating Grandpa was never able to find the spell to make him human again.
The Munsters 2 Setup Explained
While it’s unconfirmed if director Rob Zombie will be making a sequel to the reboot movie, the ending subtly sets up The Munsters 2. The 2022 comedy-horror ends without the appearances of Marilyn and Eddie Munster, two of the main characters from the original series. The Munsters sitcom revealed that Marilyn moved in with her aunt Lily when she was a baby, with Eddie seemingly being born only a few years later. Since this time in the Munster family’s story wasn’t explored in the original sitcom, a sequel to Zombie’s movie could finally explain plenty of the mysteries associated with this era. Marilyn’s parents and the reason why she moved to America with Lily and Herman were left slightly ambiguous, so The Munsters 2 could dive into the origin story of their “homely” niece.
The Munsters Ending References The Original TV Show's Credits
Since Lily, Herman, and The Count were finally living in 1313 Mockingbird Lane, it was fitting that the Netflix-released Munsters movie's ending saw them repeat the original TV show’s iconic opening credits. Using the same music and entrances, each character had their own walk-in that reflected their personalities. In the first version of the credits for The Munsters’ sitcom, Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Eddie, and Marilyn walked down the mansion's stairs and looked at the camera, but Rob Zombie pays homage to the show's season 2 intro. For the second version of the sitcom's credits and Zombie's movie, The Munsters characters exit the front door through a Herman-shaped hole created when he smashes through it. The referential ending scene is also the only full black-and-white sequence in Zombie’s The Munsters movie, which was done to better pay homage to the original TV show’s format.