At first blush, the plot description of Lisa Frankenstein may make one assume: didn’t Heat Our bodies come out already? Regardless of originating from the pen of acclaimed screenwriter Diablo Cody, Lisa Frankenstein is hardly probably the most authentic movie. Actually, it is rather intentionally an homage to quite a lot of Cody’s influences. Set in 1989, the movie goals to take the 80s teen comedy and splash it with a touch of 50s horror and even early Hollywood strangeness. The result’s a movie that’s sadly pretty mediocre, although one can reward Cody and director Zelda Williams for no less than making it a colourful and eccentric work.
The movie does a reasonably good job of capturing the 80s aesthetic, from the costuming to the music and tonality. Like a few of the rougher 80s teen films, the tone is usually a bit haphazard on this one, pivoting between broad bodily comedy, a teenage woman coping with the dying of her mom, making gentle of dying of every kind, and intercourse jokes, all with the shambling grace of Cole Sprouse‘s lurching undead protagonist. If the intent was to recreate the tonal whiplash from these movies of previous, then good job, although this is probably not a very clever pursuit.
Kathryn Newton is first rate as the primary character Lisa, although the makes an attempt to undercut the extra severe moments with humor hampers her from actually exhibiting off her appearing chops. Her character additionally feels extra like a riff on Winona Ryder from Heathers than one thing actually distinctive. Sprouse’s position renders him mute aside from grunts for a lot of the movie. Whereas he’s not so gifted an actor that he can successfully act together with his face in the way in which a Tom Hardy or Leonardo DiCaprio can, he’s no less than first rate sufficient on the comedic beats.
The movie’s bigger concern is the quite uninteresting method it renders its romantic story. The plot can be a spin on Heathers; Newton unintentionally needs a romantic younger man again to life, who begins murdering folks, whereas she will get nearer to her personal romantic goal, the editor of the highschool literary magazine. The pair then begin to fall in love, type of.
Regardless of how predictable it’s, the movie by no means successfully conveys this romance or makes you take care of it. A part of the difficulty is how little we ever find out about Sprouse’s undead character. Whereas his muteness was a good sufficient option to pay homage to Frankenstein (there are a selection of visible references to that movie and to Bride of Frankenstein), the script by no means figures out a solution to successfully construct his character or make us root for lead pair getting collectively. The movie additionally components in Newton coping with the grief of dropping her mother and having moved in with a brand new household as her father shortly remarried, however this plot thread isn’t satisfying developed both.
Mockingly, probably the most attention-grabbing character within the movie is Lisa’s step-sister, performed by Liza Soberano. Whereas she is casted because the prototypical cheerleader woman, her character is given probably the most depth of anybody within the movie, really exhibiting a lot of kindness even when her personal mom and pals ostracize Lisa. And whereas she has traits of a extra shallow teenage woman sort, the way in which she navigates her personal catty feedback and genuinely cares for others make her really feel like probably the most practical individual on display screen. Hats off to Soberano’s efficiency right here.
Lisa Frankenstein‘s wonky scripting and plot render it one thing far lower than it could possibly be. Whereas the movie has many treats for followers of cinema, with visible references to A Journey to the Moon, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and even a dialogue the place Lisa mentions G.W. Pabst as her favourite director, the failure to develop it previous the reference-laden work that it’s in the end disappoints. It’s not a nasty movie, and it even manages to entertain in components. However its predictability and thinly-drawn characters and plot beats make it a duller affair than something this colourful needs to be.