“Lisa Frankenstein” is the solid directorial debut of Zelda Williams. This dark horror comedy has captures the vibes of the 80’s and at times feels like Tim Burton’s early films. Though it never reaches the levels of great, as a lot of the side characters are underwritten it is a solidly good film.
The film was directed by Zelda Williams and written by Diablo Cody.
The story follows goth outcast Lisa (Kathryn Newton) who ends up accidentally resurrecting a Victorian-era corpse (Cole Sprouse).
SPOILERS ahead
The Pros:
The Cinematography – The cinematography is colorful and captures the 80’s coming-of-age feel that the movie is often times going for. It gives the film a dream-like quality which goes well with the themes of self-discovery and the unexpected magic of raising the dead.
The Soundtrack – The soundtrack is catchy and lively with a bunch of 80’s hits while giving the film an adventurous and mysterious feel to it as well as the moments of empowerment in the self-discovery of the characters. Isabella Summers did a good job on the soundtrack.
Taffy – Taffy is Lisa’s step-sister and is a popular cheer leader in contrast to the goth Lisa. She always makes Lisa feel welcome though and is her one defender as Lisa’s dad is never present for her or anyone outside of her step-mom. She ends up falling for the guy who Lisa had a crush on which ends in tragedy after the Creature kills him. She still clearly cared about Lisa and mourned her after her death. She was easily the most dynamic character in the film and Liza Soberano does a great job playing her.
The Creature – Cole Sprouse is great as the Creature who starts out helping Lisa by killing her bullies (from her step-mom to one of her classmates) and we see him use body parts from them to repair himself. His core desire seems to be to help Lisa but isn’t a good guy as he clearly has no problems with murder. He is given a sensitivity though and I loved the Burtonesque animation in the opening credits that give us his backstory before his death.
Lisa – This is easily Kathryn Newton’s best role. She does the outcast goth really well and seeing her villain arc is done really well as she gets more empowered but also more evil as she becomes more and more okay with the Creature murdering for her. In the end she becomes undead too realizing it is the only way for them to escape which mirrors her dream she had with her as The Bride of Frankenstein earlier in the film. She is a fun character and her facing her bullies and becoming more empowered is compelling.
The Cons:
The Missing Creature’s Backstory – We get the Creature’s backstory somewhat in the opening credits but I would have liked to learn more about his relationship to his parents. The biggest things we learn is he had a lover and is a musician. I would have liked more backstory for the character.
Underwritten Side Characters – Most of the side characters are one-dimensional and don’t exist outside of the stereotype they represent. This was a shame as most of the main characters were at least a little dynamic and had more going on than just their stereotype. This was the biggest issue keeping the film from being great.
I thought this film was good and can’t wait to see what Zelda Williams does next. I loved her voicing of Kuvira in “Legend of Korra” and there was clearly vision in how the scenes in this film were done. If you are looking for a good dark comedy I definitely recommend checking this one out. The gothic Burtonesque feel and tone of the film made it memorable outside of the compelling leads.
Final Score: 8 / 10
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