Written by: Diablo Cody
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, Carla Gugino
Rating: [3.5/5]
Disenchanted with the contemporary ways of the world, finding individuals yearning for and romanticizing the past becomes more apparent. You may have women yearning for a man from the 1950s where idealizing the men who would take a gal to a drive-in while conveniently forgetting the deeply embedded and supported sexism of the era that would make them wish for more progressive ideals. In Lisa Frankenstein, we have a somewhat similar circumstance but sprinkled in with plenty of zaniness and a lead performance to die for.
Disillusioned with everything in her life currently, teenage outcast Lisa (Kathryn Newton) finds more solace with gravestones than she does other living beings. When lightning strikes and raises a Victorian-era man (Cole Sprouse), who’s in love with her. While Lisa seeks to help put the zombie back together, she seeks to win over the affection of her crush.
Certainly wearing its influences on its sleeve of both the 80s and 90s, Lisa Frankenstein comes with quite the sense of style it employs with its storytelling that appears in many facets. From the onset, it comes through in the production and costume design that presents this heightened reality of what we encounter. From the pink house of the neighborhood and the ridiculous costumes Lisa continually wears, this film seeks to prove this does not necessarily take place in a place where the rules or reality take hold. Having one of the main characters being a reanimated corpse is certainly the other giveaway. Everything this feature sets at the foundation plays into the larger idea of this all being a silly little romp and the end result bears this out completely.
Following someone as quirky as Lisa makes you question why she acts the way she does but learning of what happened not too long ago in her life can provide some context. The particular turn she makes upon interacting with this zombie certainly can leave audience members scratching their heads but it all comes as part of the experience of following Lisa around during this particular stage of her life. She stands out amongst the rest of the crowd not only in her costumes but also just in the general way she interacts with everyone who returns the favor in their own way. For the most part, all of the other characters play this story straight other than the always-game Carla Gugino who gloriously plays the typical evil stepmother. How they all bounce off of Lisa makes for the entertainment value this film has to offer and so much credit goes to Kathryn Newton.
As much as Diablo Cody thrills with her writing once again, this character flatly would not work if not for the performance by Kathryn Newton. Lisa, as a character, could easily wear down audience members with her weirdness but Newton brings this innocence and hilarity to how she plays this character that makes her utterly captivating to watch throughout. Even in the moments when the narrative begins to falter and lose momentum, Newton continues to drive home how much we love Lisa and this particularly strange journey she goes on. She continues to mightily compress when operating in the horror genre and proves to be a shining light amongst the actors operating in this genre.
Supporting Newton we have quite the entertaining performance by Cole Sprouse as the Creature where he needs to completely communicate without saying a word. He evokes everything necessary for his character as this monstrous but also sympathetic figure in this story but the best supporting performance is played by Liza Soberano as Lisa’s stepsister, Taffy. This character serves as one of the major highlights of Cody’s screenplay in making the popular stepsister a much more layered character and Soberano absolutely chews it all up in his portrayal of this teenager. Her back and forth with Newton made for the highest highs this film had to offer.
Not entirely original in its narrative approach but certainly refreshing in its tone and characters, Lisa Frankenstein has so much to appreciate. A wildly fun and ridiculous romp brought together by a collection of women having loads of fun in crafting a riff on stories we have seen before. Lisa instantly becomes someone worth following throughout this strange tale and does not leave much to be desired.
Films with Josh 
