The Munsters: 7 Classic Monsters in the Family
“Grandpa, if you want the ketchup, just say, ‘Please pass the ketchup,’ not ‘Shoot me the plasma.’”
In the pantheon of sitcom families, there are few (if any) as memorable as The Munsters. The 1960s classic sitcom introduced viewers to a family of monsters who thought they were regular people.
When the creators of what became The Munsters first pitched the series, they had something in mind much closer to the Addams Family comics appearing in the New Yorker. (Ironically, someone at another studio was pitching an actual adaptation of the same source material at pretty much the same time.)
Universal liked their idea, but more or less tried to steal it. (More details about this process here.) When Universal decided to go forward with the idea, they wanted for the sitcom to stick closer to the monsters they had spent decades creating as part of Universal Monsters.
As such, there are several icons from Monster movies that show up on The Munsters. We celebrate them below.
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Seven Classic Monsters That Appeared With The Munsters
1 Frankenstein’s Monster
So, is Herman Munster the same guy we see in Universal’s Frankenstein movies? As we cover in more depth in the article “Is Herman Munster Really Frankenstein’s Monster? (Well…),” the question leads to a kind of “yes/no” answer.
On the one hand, as discussed more than once on the show, Herman was created in a German lab by Dr. Victor Frankenstein. However, according to the show, Herman wasn’t the only one. And, based on how at least two more monsters are introduced, it’s probably not Herman that we saw in the movies.
The second monster we meet, who they refer to as Herman’s twin brother, Charlie, was introduced in “Knock Wood, Here Comes Charlie” (episode 1.9). Unlike the monster we see in the film, Charlie is a con man who dresses fancy and talks in an affected British accent.
The third monster that we meet is Johann, introduced in the episode “A Visit from Johann” (episode 2.26). This version carries a lot more similarities to the movie version of the character—including how he’s dressed, and how unintelligibly he speaks.
The character of Frankenstein’s Monster was first seen in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The creation of Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein’s Monster—who, since he is considered to be Frankenstein’s son, means it’s OK to call him by the same name—was a new kind of person stitched together from the body parts of dead humans.
Monster Complex has more info about the book here:
Frankenstein: Everything You Need to Know to Read Mary Shelley’s Novel
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: 13 Facts About One Of the Most Influential Books in Literature.
Frankenstein’s monster has been featured in lots of media, including films, television, stage productions, video games, and everything else. The most popular version of the character comes from his appearances in Universal Monsters films, starting with 1931’s Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff. See the monster’s whole film series listed here: Frankenstein: Complete Universal Monsters Movies.
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2 Dracula
One of the regular characters we see on The Munsters is Grandpa—who, he’s glad to tell you, is Count Dracula. As such, he’s an undead vampire who wouldn’t mind some blood.
Grandpa works regularly in his a laboratory, found in the cellar of the house. He is regularly experimenting with magic spells and potions—but, as explored in several episodes of the show, many of his experiments fail.
Vampire legend Dracula first appears in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. Undead for hundreds of years, he keeps his own life by sucking blood from his victims. He can turn others into vampires, and is able to change his form to become such things as a bat, a wolf, a fog, or mist. His weaknesses include religious symbols. Monster Complex offers more info about the novel and official follow-up books here.
Grandpa can also turn into a wolf or a bat, as he can in the original novel Dracula. Sometimes he takes special pills, but other times he can change forms at will. Here we have a list of the 5 Best Grandpa Episodes.
Dracula has appeared in many adaptations, riffs, and parodies in all kind of media. More than 200 films have been made that feature Count Dracula, a number that is reportedly only second to films featuring Sherlock Holmes. The most popular version of the character comes from 1931’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. See the whole list of official Universal films here: Dracula: Complete Universal Monsters Movies.
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3 Wolf-Man
In the episode “Herman’s Rival” (episode 1.15), we discover that Lily’s brother, Lester, is a werewolf. When we meet him, Herman has lent him some money—enough, in fact, that Lily mistakenly thinks they’ve lost all their savings. She gets a job to try and help them re-save the money. (Which leads to Herman and Grandpa mistakenly believing she’s cheating on her husband.) Lester reappears in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters.
By the way, Lester’s appearance also helps explain how Eddie can be a werewolf. We talk more about that here.
Although not Universal’s first werewolf picture, 1941’s The Wolf Man launched one of the most important series in the Universal Monsters movies canon, one infused as much with tragedy as with horror. It was through this series that the studio saw a way to combine together different franchises—crossing over the Wolf Man films with Frankenstein, Dracula, and even Abbott and Costello. See the list for his whole film series here: Wolf Man: Complete Universal Monsters Movies.
Inspired by folktales and legends, much of what we think about werewolves today came from the Universal Monsters. Their 1941 film The Wolf Man was written by Curt Siodmak, who introduced many elements of the legend. The film starred Lon Chaney Jr. as the man cursed to become a wolf when the moon was full. Although not Universal’s first werewolf film, this was the one that led to multiple sequels, as Chaney would replay his classic role four times.
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4 Creature from the Black Lagoon
Known by the family as Uncle Gilbert, the gill-man from the Creature from the Black Lagoon films appeared in “Love Comes to Mockingbird Heights” (episode 1.31). Uncle Gilbert sends the family $180,000 worth of gold doubloons from the old country for safekeeping until he arrives to visit. Uncle Gilbert reappears in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters.
The last of the classic Universal Monsters, the original gill-man was introduced in 1954’s Creature from the Black Lagoon. The film follows a group of scientists who encounter a piscine amphibious humanoid in the waters of the Amazon.
He returned in 1955’s Revenge of the Creature. Captured and kept in an aquarium in Florida, the gill-man falls in love with one of the scientists. When he breaks free, he tries to take her to the ocean.
The final film in the series was 1956’s The Creature Walks Among Us. When a group of scientists recapture the creature, the gill-man is badly burned in a fire leading to a surgical transformation. Bandaging the gill-man, the doctors notice him shedding his gills and even breathing using a kind of lung system. When he is blamed for a murder done by someone else, the gill-man walks for the ocean.
The gill-man also crossed paths with comedy legends Abbott & Costello. You can watch a video of that here: Abbott and Costello vs. 12 Monsters.
Of special note is that legendary composer Henry Mancini created the scores for the first and third film in this series.
The original movie also inspired the 2017 Oscar-winning movie The Shape of Water.
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5 Phantom of the Opera
The 1981 TV movie The Munsters’ Revenge reunited the original cast (well, with another new Marilyn and a new Eddie). The movie also introduced viewers to Lily’s cousin, Phantom—who visits the Munsters for Halloween, and whose glass-shattering singing voice helps save the family.
One of the oldest classic movie monsters, The Phantom of the Opera was introduced in Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera. In the novel, the character is described as corpse-like and is referred to as having a “death’s-head” (human skull). There have been many adaptations of Leroux’s novel, from stage musicals to films to children’s books. These include the Universal Monsters film from 1925, and the 1986 stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (If you’re interested, apparently the sequel musical was really bad.)
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6 Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde
In 1981’s The Munsters' Revenge, Uncle Hyde is introduced as Herman’s brother-in-law, married to Herman’s sister. In 1995’s Here Come the Munsters, it’s established that his full name is Norman Hyde, and that he is Marilyn’s dad—which changes her from being Lily’s neice to being Herman’s.
By the way, the plot of Here Come the Munsters involves Marilyn’s parents being missing. It turns out that Marilyn’s dad was trying to fix her (because he also thought she was unattractive), but his experiment backfired.
The original version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appears in the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), which Monster Complex highlights here. A respected doctor creates a serum to fight off his dark side—unfortunately, the serum transforms Jekyll into the monster Edward Hyde, representing his evil personality.
Even worse, these transformations keep happening, with Jekyll unable to stop them. The media has adapted this two-sided life many times over the years, including movies, TV episodes, Looney Tunes cartoons, comic books, and more. (In fact, Marvel Comics’ Incredible Hulk often suffers this same problem.)
The duo also appeared in multiple film versions of the original story—more than 100 adaptations, in fact. J&H also showed up in one of Abbott & Costello’s monster comedies. Find out more here: Abbott and Costello vs. 12 Monsters.
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7 Bride of Frankenstein
In Here Come the Munsters, Herman’s sister, Elsa Hyde, is named after actress Elsa Lanchester, who played both author Mary Shelley, as well as the new monster introduced in the Universal Monsters film The Bride of Frankenstein. In fact, the Munsters character of Elsa strongly resembles the Bride. (Of course, in this case she’s his sister, not his fiancee.)
So, Here Come the Munsters tells us that Marilyn, her daughter, is Herman’s niece. (Which is different than what they told us in the original series.)
By the way, the film Bride of Frankenstein is amazing. That’s why Monster Complex went here: ‘Bride Of Frankenstein’ Should Be Next Universal Monsters Reboot.
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein’s Monster feels alone, so he asks Victor to make him a wife—promising that he and his mate will disappear into the wilderness. Victor, afraid for his own family, reluctantly begins work on her. However, worried that the Monster and his mate might have children (and even raise a new species which could destroy mankind), Victor destroys the unfinished bride. (The monster sees it happen—so things get even worse.)
This is only a fraction of the novel, but the 1935 movie Bride of Frankenstein expands on this part of the story. We actually see the woman be created. However, when she rejects the Monster, that story ends badly for some of these people, too.
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If you want more articles on classic monsters—Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, Wolf Man, and more!—check out Monster Complex’s UNIVERSAL MONSTERS category for related movies, books, TV shows, comic books, and more!
More about The Munsters
The 1960s classic sitcom The Munsters introduced viewers to a family of monsters: This included a dad who was a version of Frankenstein’s Monster, a grandpa who was the retired Count Dracula, a mom who was the daughter of Dracula, a son who was a werewolf, and a niece that was normal. (Granted, the family thought she was the weird one.)
With 70 episodes airing on the CBS network across two seasons (1964-1966), the show featured Herman and Lily Munster (portrayed by Fred Gwynne and Yvonne De Carlo), Grandpa (Al Lewis), Eddie (Butch Patrick), and Marilyn (first by Beverley Owen, then Pat Priest). Despite airing only two seasons, the show has continued to delight viewers through reruns and a series of reunions, revisits, and reboots.
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