LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024)
Streaming on Amazon Prime from Focus Features!
Directed by Zelda Williams.
Written by Diablo Cody.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/POOeA3zCuUY
It’s 1989 in Illinois, USA and Kathryn Newton plays Lisa, an awkward teen whose mother was killed by an axe murderer one year prior and now lives with her father Dale (Joe Chrest), stepmother Janet (Carla Gugino), and stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano). Unlike her popular cheerleader stepsister, Lisa is an outcast at school, but she has her eye on boyhunk Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry). After getting drunk at a party Taffy dragged her to, Lisa wanders off to an abandoned cemetery—a place where she often goes to write poetry, do gravestone rubbings, and act mopey. But on this particular night, a green thunderstorm appears in the sky, shooting a bolt of lightning into the grave of a young musician poet (Cole Sprouse) who met a tragic end a hundred years ago, resurrecting the young lad. While frightened at first of the creature, Lisa accepts him as a friend and helps him out by sewing new body parts to replace the ones that decayed or fell off. Of course, these body parts have to come from somewhere, so Lisa and the Creature murder a few people in order to make the creature whole again. Much antics, nostalgic 80’s music, and fairy tale logic ensue.
I wasn’t in a rush to see LISA FRANKENSTEIN. I’ve seen many a film attempt to capture the cynical look and feel of the 80’s teen horror comedy and none of them seem to grasp the right lightning in a bottle that only a few films did, i.e. HEATHERS, DONNIE DARKO, BEETLEJUICE, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, and a very few others—I’d include the more modern and truly excellent EXCISION in on that list as well. From what I saw in the trailers, it felt like LISA FRANKENSTEIN was going to be very cutesy, neon bathed, and filled with obnoxiously on the nose songs from various retro-80’s bands. And turns out I was right about all of that, but it also turns out I liked it a hell of a lot.
The getting to know you part of LISA FRANKENSTEIN takes an awfully long time. We find out about Lisa, her past and current situation, her stepsister, her father, her stepmother, her crush on Michael Trent, and so on, all set to various tunes from the era when MTV played videos. It’s a good twenty to thirty minutes before the actual horror shows up and the plot begins to roll out. so it’s apparent from the get go that the hearts of writer Diablo Cody and director Zelda Williams lay in wallowing in all of that gooey 80’s nostalgia. The filmmakers have the most fun here and I have to admit, having lived through this era, I bought into the fun too. Early on, with the Gorey/Burton-esque opening animation, it was obvious this was going to be a horror comedy that leans more toward comedy than horror. Nothing wrong with that. I prefer the opposite, but when done well, as with the aforementioned Burton flicks and so on, it can be a good time.
The problem with LISA FRANKENSTEIN is that the filmmakers are having so much fun with the eighties that they forget crucial plot elements along the way. Beginning with the whopper. Who killed Lisa’s mother. You don’t begin a story with the tragic death of someone by a mysterious axe murderer and not reveal who it is somewhere in the story. Now, there are theories about this omission, the most logical is that Lisa killer her mother herself and that all of this resurrected monster stuff is all in Lisa’s head. So later in the film, as Lisa and the creature begin killing people, it’s just Lisa giving in to her murderous feelings. I kind of like this theory as it really does lean into the dark side of things. But this is not made apparent anywhere in the story. There isn’t a moment where Lisa realizes that it was her who is doing all of the killing. So if it isn’t on screen, the plot hole of who killed Lisa’s mother is bad writing 101.
There are other holes such as the convenient functionality of Taffy’s tanning bed which somehow revives dead tissue and multiple tannings turn the decayed husk of the creature into a Johnny depp like boytoy. Again this is a fun and kooky thing, but there is nothing in the story that explains why this tanning bed does what it does. I know it’s picking at bits but the fact that none of this is explained really took me out of the story and made me conscious that this is just a convenient and topical way to to get from A to B. Again, lazy and problematic writing. Yes it’s the boring logical stuff, but stories need to make sense in the world they are happening in and since, before the lightning storm incident, it’s basically supposed to be our world 1980, then the appearance of the magical tanning bed has to be explained.
Almost making me ignore these voluminous plot holes is the performance of the lead, Kathryn Newton as Lisa. Much like Winona Rider’s Lydia, she’s the dark goth outcast at a preppy school. But was she like this before her mom died? Or is this a new thing? Lydia is morose because her mother died, but also seemed to have an eccentric family despite all of that. We know nothing of Lisa before her mother is killed and that’s a problem. Still, Newton definitely gives a wonderful performance, offering up some sassy and morose spin on lines that would otherwise be unnoticeable. With this performance along with her performances in Freaky and Abigail, Newton is going to be one to watch, despite her character being underwritten here.
Cole Sprouse is less impressive. He’s basically just aping the look and feel of Johnny Depp in EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. His performance really doesn’t go any further than that and most of the work comes from the makeup department trying to make the actor look like Depp. The real surprise performance is by Liza Soberano as Taffy. Usually this type of character is supposed to be cliche, but because of how vicious the story is, you end up feeling sorry for this clueless little flower.
What makes me look past the writing issues with Lisa Frankenstein is the dark tone that they commit to until the very end. This isn’t a movie with a fairy tale ending. But it still kind of has one in a very dark way. And while usually the nostalgia thing turns me off, the love the filmmakers have for the 80’s era is infectious. As long as you don’t think too hard, Lisa Frankenstein is going to be a lot of fun for you.

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Music Written by Tim Heidecker
Music & Arrangement by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy https://youtu.be/PDySbxQgZMg
(I do not own this music)