Lisa Frankenstein, the feature-length directorial debut of actress Zelda Williams, is an aesthetically pleasing but not flooring film, hemming closer to vibrantly replicating the well-worn territory of 1980s teen life than creating anything spectacularly dreadful. It is homage to and satire of the films of John Hughes, Amy Heckerling and Roger Corman, using pastel and pleather as a jumping-off point for horror-comedy. Its most daring sequence is all too brief and its narrative is far from revolutionary, though it includes one legit jump scare and a bunch of gore deployed for optimal laughs. Lisa Frankenstein is a charming curiosity, but falls far short of greatness.
Kathryn Newton plays Lisa, a newcomer to her high school in her senior year. She moved to town after her mother (Jennifer Pierce Mathus) was ax-murdered during a break in and her father Dale (Jole Chrest) remarried. Lisa is a lover of the macabre, who spends her free time daydreaming in a cemetery. Her cheery, optimistic cheerleader step-sister Taffy (Liza Soberano) brings her to a party where—while Lisa is talking to her crush, Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry)—his friend (Joey Bree Harris) gives Lisa a spiked drink. Lisa’s lab partner Doug (Bryce Romero) first comes to her aid before trying to take advantage of her.
After shoving off his advances, Lisa stumbles home through the cemetery where she accidentally resurrects a dead pianist: The Creature (Cole Sprouse), who shows up at her house shortly thereafter. She tries to hide him, but his protective intrusions on her life lead to a brief killing spree.
An initially disjointed plot focused on Lisa’s disinterest in fitting in at school and her contentious relationship with her hateful stepmother Janet (Carla Gugino) gives way to some violent coherence once the delusionally enamored Creature starts killing for Lisa. Taffy’s sense of confidence and joy is disrupted while Lisa’s blossoms, paid for by the lives of her chosen foes.
The humor of Lisa Frankenstein (written by Diablo Cody) alternates between violence-as-comedy, a few racier bits (Lisa and The Creature cause the home electricity to flicker while playing with a vibrator), and a combination of references and metatextual social commentary. Meanwhile, the first murder is shocking, and subsequent killings express the feel-good acting-out of multiple vengeances…before the law starts to investigate missing persons and the tone shifts toward a comedy of suspense.
Lisa’s initially shaken reaction to The Creature’s instinct for butchery give way to an embrace of his talents as a tool while they work in symbiotic partnership: He kills people she doesn’t like in exchange for parts to rebuild his body (which they reattach with her sewing needle and the electric power of Taffy’s faulty tanning bed). A dash of montage—including a classic dressing room wardrobe test—creates the impression that days have passed into weeks, but the story ends within a few days of its beginning.
Lisa Frankenstein echoes Cody’s Jennifer’s Body, using 1980s consumerism as a doorway to critique cultural misogyny and men’s entitlement similar to how its predecessor used horny high schoolers to critique post-9/11 consumerism-as-patriotism. Lisa and Taffy’s well-meaning father is clueless. Lisa’s crush is friendly but not, in the end, very considerate, while her lab partner is exposed from the get-go as a self-serving Nice Guy. The Creature himself enters Lisa’s life because, when she passes through the cemetery on the way home from the party, she says she wishes she could be with him because she wishes she was dead. The Creature misunderstands Lisa’s depression and despair as yearning, centering himself.
Lisa Frankenstein’s intentions are nuanced, but its conclusion comes muddled. This wouldn’t be a better film if it were a polemic or a morality play, but the reference-based comedy wastes time better spent on its characters. The film does itself credit by letting Lisa live out conceited delusion and realize her own self-centeredness, yet undermines this by giving the last word to the Creature, reading Frankenstein to a dead-and-resurrected Lisa.
While it references teen comedies and horror films of the ‘80s, Lisa Frankenstein isn’t as earnest as the films it lampoons, and neither does its derivative nature require an intimate familiarity with late 20th century young adult cinema to appreciate it. Lisa Frankenstein is funny—its name suggesting the airbrush commercial pop art of Lisa Frank—but the pun feels incidental, as its aesthetic is more interested in a casual 1980s satire, dotted with Hot Topic-style countercultural gothica. Despite solid performances and hints of daring brilliance, Lisa Frankenstein feels disposable because its winks and nods downplay its uniqueness—not to mention that we are in the third decade of being perpetually awash in nostalgia for and satires of the 1980s.
Director: Zelda Williams
Writer: Diablo Cody
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Liza Soberano, Cole Sprouse, Joey Bree Harris, Henry Eikenberry, Carla Gugino
Release Date: February 9, 2024
Kevin Fox Jr. loves history, videogames, film, TV, and sports. He dreams of liberation and is always seeking recommendations for his endless backlog and reading list. His blog is at PC Vulpes.