Director: Zelda Williams
Writer: Diablo Cody
Stars: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano
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 a few missing body parts.
It’s hard to describe the feeling you get leaving the theater after watching Lisa Frankenstein. There’s a hodge podge of emotions. You’ll find yourself grossed out, confused, strangely melancholy, and in stitches at the wackiness that hit you like a strange dream. Is Lisa Frankenstein perfect? In parts, yes, but as a whole it feels a little too much like chopped up pieces sewn into a new form.
The film is a little slow to get going. With director Zelda Williams’ flair for dreaminess, we sort of get trapped in a state of not knowing how we should feel about certain characters or situations. Much of LisaFrankenstein plays like a fantasy sequence, even with its own fantasy sequences within. It was hard not to wonder if a theory can be developed, like the famous Ferris Bueller’s Day Off theory*, that everything after Lisa gets a shock from a faulty tanning bed is all in her head. This script by Diablo Cody is not as snappy as some of her previous films. It has some excellent laughs, but it lacks some of the bite she’s known for, possibly because of an effort to make this a more accessible PG-13. Where the script really struggles is in the overall story.
Lisa Frankenstein is a mishmash of genres sewn together. While it’s a horror comedy, it also fits into the subgenre of coming of age, with direct homage to ’80s teen films of the John Hughes variety and 19th century love stories a la Jane Austen. None of these really quite connect and they fail to spark something truly supernatural. Though, once the film leans into its strangeness, it takes on something extraordinarily enjoyable.
Especially Kathryn Newton’s exceptional performance as Lisa. Her performance has several different layers to it from her grief over her mother, her anger at her father remarrying so soon, and angst at switching schools just before senior year. She takes every change in circumstance and weaves some beautiful magic from it, releasing Lisa from her cocoon of insecurity into a terrific goth butterfly. It’s just a nerdy girl coming into her own. Newton is matched perfectly by the physical performance of Cole Sprouse as The Creature. Sprouse can communicate so much with a look and a grunt which is as impressive as it is entertaining to watch.
There’s a beautiful alchemy in the craft of the film that keeps the audience engaged. Meagan McLaughlin’s costumes from The Creature’s band tees and blazers to Lisa’s incredible goth outfits are stellar. They bring the characters to life in new ways. The same goes for production designer Mark Worthington, art director Michelle C. Harmon, and set decorator Andrew W. Bowfinger’s teams creating a cemetery to swoon over, superb fantasy sequences on practical sets and some truly amazing ‘80s interiors. Praise to the makeup and hairstyling teams, as well, for a superior job on The Creature’s different states of decay as well as the fabulous period hair.
Lisa Frankenstein, when put under the microscope, is a little lacking. The nuts and bolts are there, but the product seems only partially finished. It could be that the film needs a couple of viewings before it really sinks in. It’s thoroughly enjoyable in spite of its flaws and it will make you appreciate REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight This Feeling” in an entirely new way. See it with a bunch of people because the crowd reaction is almost as enjoyable as the film.
*The Ferris Bueller’s Day Off theory is that when the camera zooms in on Ferris’ friend Cameron’s face at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cameron has a small break with reality and we enter Cameron’s fantasy for the rest of the film.
