This seems to be the season for horny reanimated people, what with Poor Things and now Lisa Frankenstein, both of which detail with sexual maturity and, well, reconstituted people. Why? I have no idea. I didn’t really understand Poor Things and I don’t really understand Lisa Frankenstein. This movie seems to be an exploration of teenage angst but that covers a great deal of ground, is at least somewhat contradictory and leaves a tapestry of loose plot threads when it concludes. It comes from the imagination of Diablo Cody, which was a big deal fifteen years ago, and is said to take place in the same universe as Jennifer’s Body, another Cody project, but there is no direct connection.
Zelda Williams’ film introduces Lisa Swallow (Kathryn Newton) as the outsider girl at her high school. Her stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano) is a popular cheerleader who tries to help Lisa adapt, but to little avail. Lisa discovers a remote, creepy graveyard and somehow inadvertently brings a couple of dead men back to life. One attacks her but is never seen again; the other turns out to be a nice young man, missing a few body parts, who takes a strong liking to Lisa. She hides him at her home, cares for him, and eventually kills to help him complete his return to undead life. It is a romance, after all.
It’s not exactly Romeo and Juliet, but the romance angle is pretty effective. She has to speak for both of them, because the Creature (Cole Sprouse) is missing his tongue, but he is very expressive. The Creature is devoted to Lisa, even when her decisions are not fully formed, which is nice to see. Also worthwhile is the step-sibling relationship; Taffy is, to my mind, an even better character than Lisa, more interesting and consistent. That’s the good stuff. Other elements are sadly underdeveloped, such as the girls’ father Dale (Joe Chrest), who has almost no character at all, and the fate of the axe murderer who appears in a flashback and is never seen or heard again. Most troublesome for me is Lisa’s casual transformation from troubled, victimized teen to conscience-less killer. I feel like this film lacks basic empathy for those who have lost people (like Lisa), which seems contradictory and wrong.
Zelda Williams makes a notable directorial debut here; the film looks sharp and cool and appropriately creepy. But I don’t really get the point of this story. It is dark and humorous and gothic, so it seems destined to be cultish in years to come, but I don’t see the mainstream appeal. Its conclusion suggests that love conquers all, yet that seems more like a cheat than an actual future direction for these characters. And it positively kills any urge I might have ever had to use a tanning bed. ☆ ☆. 27 February 2024.