Munster, Go Home! from Scream Factory

[GeoffOliver]

Originally Posted by Pumpkinhead

Rob Zombie knows his MUNSTERS, but he has it in for actress Debbie Watson, who replaced Pat Priest for this movie incarnation (Universal wanted to try out a different contract player, and Priest, whose contract I believe was up, clearly had no future at the studio). Fans of the original show cried foul, but Watson's Marilyn actually has more range and is more believable as a fleshed-out human being than the limited-by-design TV versions. Her cute "I'm not a kid anymore" relationship with Eddie is very engaging, as DW was closer to Butch Patrick's age than either Beverly or Pat. Most importantly, this was 1966, and the times they were a-changin'. Beverly Owen and Pat Priest were picture-perfect as early '60s complacent American female beauties, but Debbie Watson, while just as charmingly sweet, is also feisty, has a temper and gets pissed off that her family is being mistreated, her take no crap attitude looking ahead to the feminist movement that was just getting underway. Watson also brought this quality to her performance as TAMMY in the short-lived Universal TV series of 1965. Shout! should have invited the still-with-us actress to contribute to the commentary, along with co-star Butch Patrick, and had Zombie do his thing on a separate track. But I suspect the company is trying to distance themselves from the mostly-forgotten Watson, probably because it's more commercial to push "the complete original family" as a selling point.

Yeah, Debbie Watson is probably my favorite Marilyn too. The others weren’t bad though, just too one-dimensional. Plus you could tell Beverly Owen did not want to be there, as pretty-as-a-picture as she was. Also, both Beverly and Pat were pushing 30 while Debbie was an actual teenager.

Anyway, I would’ve loved to have seen an interview to hear her thoughts and experiences on making this movie. Unfortunately I don’t think she’s done any interviews.