LISA FRANKENSTEIN *** USA 2024 Dir: Zelda Williams. 101 mins
Frankenstein fans are eating good in 2024. The year kicked off with the multi-Oscar-winner Poor Things (2023) that had Emma Stone putting a darkly funny feminist spin on Frankenstein’s monster as the infant-brained Bella Baxter. Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro confirmed that he’s working on his Frankenstein adaptation for Netflix.
In the middle of this lies Lisa Frankenstein, the subversive, neon-lit tribute to Mary Shelley’s Gothic masterpiece with a dash of 80s nostalgia and a bonus nod to Shelley’s equally Gothic poet husband Percy Shelley.
Expect a lot of zany violence, creepy men who get what they deserve, Stranger Things-esque 80s needle drops, and a standout “undead” performance by Riverdale alumnus Cole Sprouse. While Zelda Williams proves that the funny bone runs in her family (she’s the daughter of the late Robin Williams), it’s Diablo Cody’s screenplay that makes Lisa Frankenstein stand out from its zom-rom-com elements.
Cody, who won the Oscar for penning Juno (2007), is more beloved among cult horror cinephiles for writing Jennifer’s Body (2009). And if you enjoyed that Megan Fox-led bloodfest, you’re in for a delight.
In Lisa Frankenstein, our titular protagonist is a socially awkward, poetry-reading high-school outcast played with adorable charm by Kathryn Newton (Ant-Man’s daughter in the MCU). Finding her identity in 1989 in the face of a stereotypically judgmental high school and a snobby new stepmother (genre favourite Carla Gugino), Lisa struggles to compete with her much more popular cheerleader stepsis Taffy (Filipino actress Liza Soberano in her Hollywood debut).
But when she crosses paths with a resurrected Victorian lad straight out of an 19th century grave, Lisa comes of age albeit with a few bloody encounters on the way. This could have been a meet-cute love story that imagines the scientist Victor Frankenstein falling in love with his own creature. But Cody’s script offers us something more unhinged, a chaotic blend of violent feminist humour and satirical teen angst.
In other words, Lisa Frankenstein might not be for everyone. Some might complain about the blood-soaked shock value to be a bit too much while others might desire a more fleshed-out equation between the unlikely lovers. But much like the ever-polarizing Jennifer’s Body (2009), this isn’t supposed to be high-art horror.
Despite its genre mishmash, Lisa Frankenstein works as a pastiche of campy 80s horror that might make it a cult classic for many a midnight screening in the future. Newton is subtle in capturing Lisa’s evolution from mild-mannered schoolgirl to unpredictable zombie-loving drifter while Sprouse is in his A-game for a part that requires no dialogues at all.
Is Lisa Frankenstein self-indulgent? Without a doubt, but that’s precisely what works in its favour. Frankenstein fans rejoice for you’ve got a movie where the creature massages the heroine’s back with an old-school vibrator!
Mary Shelley would have been oddly pleased.
Review by Shaurya Thapa
LISA FRANKENSTEIN is available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the USA
Also available on Blu-ray and DVD in the USA
LISA FRANKENSTEIN will be released in the UK on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on 3rd June 2024