Lisa Frankenstein Review: Do You Want to Stitch A Boyfriend?
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Lonely high school student Lisa prefers to spend her free time at a cemetery, mooning over the grave of a bachelor with a handsome stone bust. School is awful, her part-time sewing job is mind-numbingly dull, and home isn’t much better, with a mean stepmother constantly criticizing her. But Lisa’s life takes a strange turn when a bizarre miracle brings her favorite corpse to life, and they become best friends—even though he looks like a mix between a zombie and a young Frankenstein.
Created by director Zelda Williams and writer Diablo Cody, the 2024 horror-comedy ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ stars Kathryn Newton (The Map of Tiny Perfect Things/Winner/Abigail) as the titular protagonist Lisa, an asocial teen, still recovering from the trauma of witnessing her mother’s violent death. Lisa’s only friend in town is her step-sister Taffy (Liza Soberano), who is surprisingly nice and often shields her from stepmom Janet’s (Carla Gugino) wrath. Cole Sprouse plays the mysterious corpse who comes to life and helps Lia navigate her stormy life, while she returns the favor by stitching missing body parts for him.
Set in the 1980s, ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ reminded me of the quirky, older Tim Burton movies, like ‘Edward Scissorhands’, ‘Corpse Bride’ and ‘Frankenweenie’. In-fact, in one particular scene (inserted below), where Lisa imagines herself in a black-and-white movie with the corpse, Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse look a lot like younger Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp. The visual elements are fun, paying homage to old classics, along with colorful nods to the vibrant 80s. For instance, a big poster of the iconic moon scene from A Trip to the Moon, the 1902 movie by Georges Méliès, hangs in Lisa’s room, and there’s even a little animated sequence featuring it.
Kathryn Newton as Lisa, a teen from the 80s, comes across as a crossover between Madonna and Cyndi Lauper (I kept thinking how Lisa would look so great in the ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ music video). Cole Sprouse remains silent as the living corpse, his character gradually evolving from a grotesque, undead figure into a more human-like young man as the story unfolds. This transformation serves as a compelling metaphor, reflecting how his connection with Lisa restores his humanity over time. However, their evolving friendship isn’t as comedic or even as crazy as it could’ve been if the writers let their imagination run a little wilder, to serve a more gothic, horror toned story. Given it’s 80s theme, it would’ve been hilarious if the creators could’ve gotten the rights to play Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ when Cole Sprouse wakes up from the grave in his introductory scene.
Carla Gugino is wickedly-good in her brief role as the neurotic stepmother, and with her becoming a fixture in horror (‘Haunting of Hill House,’ ‘Gerald’s Game,’ ‘Haunting of Bly Manor,’ ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’), her mere presence in any horror film now feels like an Easter egg. Liza Soberano as Lisa’s ‘nice’ step-sister Taffy was the most pleasant surprise in the film, she is warm, funny, protective and a small beacon of sunshine in Lisa’s bleak life. Lisa and Taffy’s relationship ended up being the most endearing dynamic in ‘Lisa Frankenstein’.
While amusingly entertaining in the first half, with some mildly macabre moments, ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ descends into cliched typical teen territory towards the climax, with Lisa losing it over a boy. The film serves up a series of twists toward the end, most of which are predictable and underwhelming. However, the final twist offers a tragic-comedic conclusion, bringing the unlikely friendship between the undead bachelor and the socially awkward teen girl to a somewhat ‘happy ending.’
Rating: 6.5 on 10. You can watch ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ on JioCinema.
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