This is Day 280 of my One Movie a Day for 2023, and Day 7 of both my own 31 Days of Hallowe'en as well as the 31 Days of Horror Challenge being hosted by Nightmare on Film Street. Plus, I'm part of the 100HorrorMoviesIn92Days challenge.
I've talked so much already about my old 13 Days of Hallowe'en challenge, and how I for the last decade did movie reviews, recipes and comedy skits from October 19th-31st on my various social media. This year, I'm keeping it a little more contained with the horror movie challenges here on my site and on my Letterboxd.
My own 31 Days of Hallowe'en mini theme today is Vampires. In fact, this whole week is vampire themed.
The mini theme for the 31 Days of Horror hosted by Nightmare on Film Street is Rob Zombie Movies. And today's movie happens to fall into both categories. Rob Zombie's The Munsters from 2022.
It's a family friendly rom-com gateway horror. Rob Zombie stays true to the spirit of the 1964 television show and it's G-PG rating.
The plot follows Dr. Wolfgang as he creates Herman from body parts, the brain supposedly from the smartest human around. But, in fact it's the brain of a local comedian. Feeling like he's failed, Dr. Wolfgang leaves town letting Herman to his own devices. Which is being a rock star. Lily sees Herman on television and falls instantly in love. She then goes to his concert and asks him out on a date. Their relationship is hampered though by her greedy brother Lester who sells the family castle, and her father the Count who does not at first approve of Herman.
One of the things I like about this is the sub-plot of Herman becoming a musician, as it's taken right out of one of the episodes. In this version he's a punk rocker in a night club, on the television series, Herman records a folk song in the episode "Will Success Spoil Herman Munster"; while the leather biker/punk rock look is taken from the episode "Hot Rod Herman" as well as the one movie Munsters Go Home.
This has become my favourite movie of the last few years. It's only been out for a year as of the time of this article/post, but I've already seen it over a 100 times. I know it's sort of polarizing for some, but I had so much faith in it, that I bought it on Blu-ray the day of it's release before even seeing it.
There is a scene where Lily makes dinner for Herman for their first date. She makes him "curried scorpion casserole". It's served in what looks like round bowls one would use for French Onion Soup, and the Count comments after an argument as Lily and Herman leave the dining room, that her casserole is under cooked. Of course, now I have to figure out a casserole recipe to do because of this movie. In the past I've made Lily's Black Widow Tea, inspired by the movie Munsters Scary Little Christmas. It was a spicy gingerbread flavoured tea.
But as far as the curried scorpion casserole is concerned, I am not a fan of curries and as a vegetarian, I have to come up with some sort of meat replacement that will still have the idea behind the title of the dish. How does one fake scorpion? Black olives maybe? Charred beets? Grilled mushrooms? Black beans? Personally, when I think of casseroles, I think of rich cream sauces over pasta and topped with melted cheese. Charred beets and black beans don't really fit with a thick cheesy Alfredo sauce.
There is another scene earlier in the movie, when Lily is on a date with Orlock and they both order salads. Her's is Cleopatra No Garlic and his is Anubis Extra Onions. It's difficult to see what's really on her plate but his is a can of beeferoni. Yes, he's slurping up a can of Chef Boyardee. Not even a salad. There is yet another scene where the character of Flute is holding a sandwich over the still lifeless body of Herman and decides to name him Munster after the cheese. But that's not everything. There is actually a lot of food in this film either on screen or mentioned.
Shirly Temple drinks, curried scorpion casserole, tomato/lettuce/cheese sandwiches, pasta, wine/champagne, grilled brains with chips, canned beeferoni, cereal, Anubis salad extra onions, shrimp cocktail, green salad with cheese, wrapped leaves with a white sauce, salt/pepper, Cleopatra salad no garlic, drinks in general, pumpkin, a large stew being roasted over a campfire, plain popcorn, chips in a skull bowl, orange juice, melon is mentioned, bread sticks, cookies, coffee/tea with sugar, Raven's eggs with Tarantula hashbrowns, iced cold blood pudding, fruit, watermelon, honey is mentioned, sacks of flour and potatoes on the street, cake, asparagus, celery, fig pudding with fig halves, tomatoes and apples on a table in the background of a scene, dips, olive salad, a roast of some sort in a dining scene, breads, sausage, seaweed, coloured popcorn, floats and pop, there is a picnic but you can not see what is being served, cream puffs are mentioned, french fries are mentioned, pastries in general, dried herbs, candy, cherries, crackers, milk, berries, punch, toast, pancakes, lemons and lemonade.
Just like the original television show, scenes of the family sitting down to breakfast or dinner are very important and abundant. With so much to choose from, I almost don't know where to start! I was originally planning on doing three different recipes, but time this week has gotten a bit away from me.
What I did finally settle on for today was a simple Pasta Salad With Extra Onions.
Tri-Coloured pasta (to represent their skin tones)
Broccoli
Black Olives sliced and chopped (to represent Lily's dead black heart quote)
Chopped Onions (yeah, I really did chop more than I normally would)
Ground Black Pepper
Salt
Miracle Whip (or Mayo if you prefer)
Shredded Cheese (I couldn't find any Munster cheese so I used Marbled)
I cooked the pasta to the instructions, blanched the broccoli, drained them both chilling them for about twenty minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.
I plan to return to this movie for more recipes over the course of things. Cause you know I have to figure out that "curried scorpion casserole".
Come back tomorrow to see what tricks and treats I have for tomorrow's challenges.
Comments