Lisa Frankenstein Review
Theatrical Movie Review - Horror/Comedy
Many critics try to avoid trailers before they see a movie so they can go in as blind as possible. I’m not one of them, so I admit I went on a journey with Zelda Williams’s “Lisa Frankenstein” before it was released. The first trailer had me giving it a bit of the side-eye, but the second one had me intrigued. My actual thoughts landed somewhere in the middle of all of that.
Lisa (Kathryn Newton) lives with her milquetoast dad Dale (Joe Chrest), her overbearing stepmother Janet (Carla Gugino), and her bubbly step-sister Taffy (Liza Soberano). To avoid spending time with them, Lisa hangs out at the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetary, talking to one particular grave. When a freak lightning storm brings to life that Corpse (Cole Sprouse), he comes to find her. In order to become the whole person that he once was, Lisa helps the Corpse get the parts that he needs, and he helps her try to hook up with Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry), the cool boy she likes.
This movie was a lot of fun. Diablo Cody was the screenwriter, and I have enjoyed all of her previous work. Her writing strikes my funny bone just right, so I found myself laughing out loud more than once at the jokes scattered throughout. I get the impression that Cody appreciates teenage girls, and I thought that shown through in this film. I found that the movie was served by its PG-13 rating rather than going for R. And as someone who was in high school in 1989, I absolutely loved the 80’s aesthetic that the movie had going for it.
My primary complaint about the movie was that it didn’t have quite enough murder in it for me. Which seems an odd thing to say, but honestly, I wanted the movie to go a little harder than it did on the horror side of things. The comedy is kind of perfect, but it bogs down in teen drama just a little too much. I think one additional killing montage could have taken this from a pretty decent movie to a fantastic one.
The performances are all fun. Soberano does a great job playing against the cheerleader type, just as Gugino leans hard into the evil stepmother bit. Newton does a great job playing the disaffected teenager. Sprouse is spectacular as the Creature, moving from a lurching mess to a pretty suave undead Victorian boy. I found both the family dynamic and the teen dynamic all worked really well throughout the film.
This might not be one of the best movies put out this year, but I had a good time watching it. I think if you’re looking for a fun, slightly unconventional film for a Valentine’s date night of dinner and a movie, you could do a lot worse than “Lisa Frankenstein.”
This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on February 11, 2024.