‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is a coming of rage love story from writer Diablo Cody about a misunderstood teenager and her crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse.
After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bringing him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness … and a few missing body parts along the way.
‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is a quirky, weird movie that really reminds me of the campy horror comedies from the 1980s. This movie delivers some humorous moments and can get really strange at times.
While I was watching this movie, I noticed that it kind of gives a Tim Burton vibe. There are quite a few moments scattered throughout the movie that can get dark and twisted — something that Burton is definitely known for. Some of those scenes are actually played out for laughs and a few of those did make me chuckle a bit. Most of those moments occur when Lisa and the recently re-animated man started their strange journey together.
Even though Kathryn Newton does a good job portraying the character of Lisa (which she usually does a good job playing quirky characters anyway), Cole Sprouse really steals the show as the re-animated corpse. His role is almost dialogue free and the character reminds me of the ‘Hocus Pocus’ character Billy a little bit.
Sprouse and Newton work really well together and some of their scenes can be a little sweet and funny at times. And did you know that the young man that plays the creature (Sprouse) is also the little boy that played Julian (a.k.a. ‘Frankenstein’) in ‘Big Daddy’?
The movie also does a good job making the 1980s set movie feel just like the 80s. It features a lot of the wild fashions that the decade is known for, the big hair and the technology of the decade.
Now, ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ isn’t a movie for everyone. This is the kind of movie that is aimed for a specific audience — especially if you liked writer Diablo Cody’s last horror-comedy attempt ‘Jennifer’s Body.’
So, overall, ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ does feature a few parts that can be funny. Sure, there are quite a few parts that don’t really make a whole lot of sense. Yet, this is one of those movies that everything in the movie doesn’t really need to make sense. If you have enjoyed some of the works from writer Diablo Cody or like movies that give a Tim Burton kind of vibe, then make sure to check out ‘Lisa Frankenstein.’
The cast: Kathryn Newton as Lisa; Cole Sprouse as The Creature; Henry Eikenberry as Michael Trent; Jenna Davis as Lori; Liza Soberano as Taffy; Bryce Romero as Doug; Joe Chrest as Dale and Carlo Gugino as Janet.
‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is written by Diablo Cody (Juno; Young Adult; Jennifer’s Body) and marks the directorial debut of Zelda Williams, the daughter of the late great Robin Williams).
The movie was announced by writer Diablo Cody to be in development in June 2022. To prepare for his role as The Creature, Sprouse trained with movement and mime coach Lorin Eric Salm for several months in LA. Salm helped Sprouse develop The Creature’s movement, and because the character doesn’t really speak, he used mime techniques to help Sprouse learn to express his thoughts, emotions and personality entirely non-verbally.
‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, sexual material, language, sexual assault, teen drinking and drug content and has a running time of 101 minutes.
And, coming up on the review front — ‘The Holdovers,’ ‘Maestro,’ ‘Madame Web’ and ‘Ordinary Angels.’
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