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Film: Lisa Frankenstein
Year: 2024
Director: Zelda Williams
Writer: Diablo Cody
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Liza Soberano and Cole Sprouse
Review:
This was a movie that I noticed the trailer playing at the Gateway Film Center. I saw that Diablo Cody wrote this. I’m not the biggest fan of the dialogue she writes, but she penned Juno and Jennifer’s Body, which I liked both of those. I decided to catch this as a matinee on opening weekend to ensure that I had this as a Featured Review in February since we have a woman director and writer, as well as leads.
Synopsis: a coming of RAGE love story about a teenager and her crush, who happens to be a corpse. After a set of horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a journey to find love, happiness – and missing body parts.
Now with the opening credits, we get the backstory to Cole Sprouse’s character. I realized now that we don’t get a name, or we might and his last name is Frankenstein. We are given an animated history of him though as he is a composer who plays piano. He fell in love with a woman who left him for a guitar player. He then died alone.
We then shift to the present, which I believe is 1989. Lisa (Kathryn Newton) and her father, Dale (Joe Chrest) experienced tragedy. His wife and Lisa’s mother, played by Jennifer Pierce Mathus, was murdered by an ax wielding maniac, played by Luke Sexton. Dale then found Janet (Carla Gugino) and the two of them were soon married. She comes with a daughter, Taffy (Liza Soberano), who is the opposite of her stepsister. Taffy is the head cheerleader, outgoing and pretty. Lisa is depressed and introverted. This is for good reason. She also had to move schools during her senior year. She hangs out in a cemetery where she does grave stone rubbings. Her favorite is Sprouse’s, which has his bust on it.
Lisa is convinced by Taffy to go to a party. Taffy wants to know if she has her eye on anyone. She reveals that she has a crush on Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry). Taffy doesn’t seem to know who that is and gets a bit weird about it. They get to the party and Taffy wants Lisa to unwind. She tries to when she talks to Michael. He likes her poetry and he agreed to publish it in the school magazine. He is joined by his friend, Tamara (Joey Harris). She brings a drink over that seems to be spiked. Lisa wants to fit in and downs it, causing her to spiral. She is taken upstairs by Doug (Bryce Romero), who gets inappropriate. She then walks home.
When this happens, there is a freak storm that hits. Lightning strikes the gravestone of Sprouse. Last time she was there, Lisa wished she was with him. She meant that a bit different, but as they say, be careful what you wish for. This storm and electricity brought him back to life. Lisa wants to help him and this opens her up. It also gives her confidence as they kill different people to help replace his missing body parts. Taffy’s tanning bed also comes into play as there is an issue with the wiring that it causes an electric shock to those using it.
Lisa’s Creature has a thing for her, but with her new confidence, she is determined to get Michael. There is also the issue of mounting bodies and disappearances with evidence pointing back to Lisa. There are also other secrets here as well.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the story. Where I want to start with the fact that I forgot until a buddy pointed this out, our director is Zelda Williams. She is the daughter of the late, great Robin. This is a fun movie to take on as your first, especially since you have Cody as your writer. She tends to have quirky dialogue and fun things added in, as she is a horror fan with references she incorporates. That’s something I’ve picked up on in all her movies. That was enough to get me into the theater. I did see a buddy of mine didn’t care for this. How Cody writes things aren’t for everyone so I took that into consideration.
Where I want to start is that this is a fun play on Frankenstein and the mythos. I like that we are taking out the mad scientist vibes here. Lisa is just a normal high school student. What is interesting there though, she can sew. That helps her attach parts back on the creature as this goes on. It also has a good set up where Lisa uses Taffy’s tanning bed, which causes her to get shocked and then lets us know that when electricity is needed to help the creature, it is there. I thought this set up was solid and the tweaks to the source material was good.
Before moving away from the basic premise there are odd things here that I’m not entirely sure why they were used. Having Lisa’s mother be murdered as to why Dale is now with Janet was odd to me. This doesn’t go anywhere and I feel like it is absurd so it is played for laughs. I’m not sure that it’s funny though. What I can see though is that they’re using it as a tragedy as to why Lisa is as sullen as she is, which is fine. My problem there is that Dale doesn’t seem to have that. It also allows Janet to threaten her by sending her to a mental hospital. Being in 1989, I thought they were closing, but that isn’t something that I’ll nitpick.
There is another thing that bothered me. With how long the Creature was dead, there should be nothing left of him. This is where it goes fantasy and more fairy tale. It ruins the whole story if you can’t get past that, so I just rolled with it. I also can understand why we’re using someone this old. It reminded me of Corpse Bride a bit to be honest.
Let me then get back to positives. I do love that this is set in the 1980s. That fits more of Cody’s vibe if I’m honest. There are outrageous things that Lisa and Taffy wear. This also limited technology and allows them to use other things there. That was a good touch. I love that there’s a moment where Lisa is watching the original Day of the Dead on television. That’s fun, especially with what happens with her and the Creature there.
Now I know I’ve brought up Cody’s dialogue a handful of times. You need to have good actors to make it work. I thought that Newton, Soberano, Eikenberry and all the teens were solid there. Being in the 1980s, it works better as well. I also like Newton and the changes to her character. The more she kills or helps the Creature kill, the more confidence she gets. Sprouse was good with only body language and facial expressions until the end of the movie. He has a good look about him. What is also good there is that the more he gets electrocuted and getting parts, we see he gets more attractive as well. I’d say that the cast here was solid across the board in fitting this quirky atmosphere of the movie.
All that I have left then is filmmaking. I thought that the cinematography was good. They capture the period it is set. It also doesn’t feel as if it were on your face. There is almost a timeless feeling that gets you sucked in which is always a good thing. I’ll pull in the effects here as well. I thought that the look of the Creature was great. I also love as this goes on that he gets better looking as I said. They do good things by framing as well as hiding things. We don’t get a lot in the way of effects. It also doesn’t need them. What we saw was mostly practical and done with make-up. There is CGI, but that’s not an issue there. What was also great though was the soundtrack. The use of certain songs from the era were on point. I love the use of REO Speedwagon as well.
In conclusion, this is going to be a divisive film. There are going to be people that love this. Part of that is that we’re getting a quirk comedy with horror elements. There are also going to be people that hate this for being PG-13 and directed toward teens. Even though I’m not the target audience, I had fun here. Do I think that this is a great take on Mary Shelley’s source material? No, but I appreciate that they did something different. This has been done so many times, I feel that is almost what you must do. The acting here fits what was needed. This was made well enough. The soundtrack leads the way there for me with solid effects and cinematography. Like I said, won’t be for everyone. This is a good gateway horror film in my opinion.
My Rating: 7 out of 10