The Munsters are coming back to TV, thanks to James Wan with the "darker" reimagining 1313

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As a massive Universal Monsters fan, I've always loved The Munsters. But as a massive horror fan, I've also always understood that The Munsters was never supposed to be scary, save perhaps for the unlucky neighbors of 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Now, though, it looks like that's about to shift, as an upcoming Munsters reboot is taking a distinctly more "grim" tone, captained by none other than the mind behind The Conjuring himself, James Wan.

The news comes from Deadline, who announced the reboot with the title 1313. That's obviously a nod to the original series, but Deadline makes sure to note that this isn't just a remake - it's a "darker reimagining of the 1964 sitcom."

Exactly how 1313 will be darker than its cartoonish forebear is unclear as of this announcement, but as anyone who's seen a James Wan-produced film can attest, the capability is certainly there.

Notably, it's also a remake that looks set to make the subtext of the original series the text, with Deadline describing it as a series that "lives and breathes within the Universal Monsterverse." In other words, it's official: the Munsters are canonically the suburban relatives of the Wolfman, the Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, et al.

Attached to showrun the project is Lindsey Anderson Beer, who's proven her ability to delve into the dark with horror as writer of 2023's Pet Semetary: Bloodlines. Ingrid Bisu, who helped create gonzo slasher Malignant and has been in Conjuring pojects like The Nun and The Devil Made Me Do It, is also in the show's braintrust, rounding out a list of people very familiar with "darker" horror.

Really quickly, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that this isn't the first time a modern Munsters reboot has been floated. Hannibal's Bryan Fuller developed and shot a pilot for a project called Mockingbird Lane, and though it was definitely gorier and more sinister than the 1964 show, it still leaned fairly PG-13. With this announcement and the creatives involved, we can expect 1313 to be much more R-rated.

Ironically.

No release date for 1313 has been announced, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we think you should check out horror aficionado Greg Silber's list of the best horror movies of all time. Or, if you've already seen those classics, check out our list of the most underrated horror movies from the past couple years. And if you've already seen all of those, Let us tell you what to look forward to (or dread) in Popverse's list of upcoming horror movies.