REVIEW: Lisa Frankenstein

Lisa Frankenstein is the new movie written by Diablo Cody who you probably know from Tully, Young Adult, Jennifer’s Body and she won the Oscar for best screenplay for Juno. This is also the feature directorial debut of Zelda Williams, who - fun fact - once upon a time I kind of knew! Not like so well that 15 years later she would still remember me, but we had a moment in time!

Lisa Frankenstein is about a girl, Lisa Swallows, who is trying to recover from the death of her mother and who accidentally reanimates a corpse. To be honest, I was kind of surprised that her name was Lisa Swallows and not Lisa Frankenstein, but I suppose it’s all the same. When I thought her name was Lisa Frankenstein, I kind of when down this whole rabbit hole wondering, “is she then aware of Frankenstein?” “Does Mary Shelley exist in her world?” So maybe it’s for the best that Frankenstein isn’t actually her last name because it might have been too on the nose and pulled me out too much.

This movie is stylized and quirky, really campy and fun. I could tell in the first 5 minutes that I would have died for this movie as a teenager. I would have made my entire personality about it. I could instantly see all of these influences on the movie. It was very Tim Burton, very Winona Ryder in almost every movie from that period … especially Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice, and I kept thinking the lead reminded me of Geena Davis in Beetlejuice. I saw a ton of the Heathers, Madonna in the ‘80s, and (of course) some Universal Monsters inspiration and references, but I have a lot of thoughts on those and I’m gonna kind of get into them later.

Zelda Williams made her feature length directorial debut with Lisa Frankenstein.

I will say, for being Zelda William’s feature debut, it did not feel like her feature debut and I think that’s amazing. I know she’s been directing music videos and short films for a while, and I know he’s been working toward this, but for being her first major full length feature debut outing, I thought this was so good. She came into it with such a strong voice, with such a strong point of view. She knew exactly what it was, and even though she had all of these influences, it didn’t feel like a blatant rip off, and for that, I have major respect for her.

I thought the writing was really good too! It didn’t go the direction I thought it was going to go in, when I walked in the theater, so that was good: There’s a scene early on where the main character hallucinates on like drugs that she drank at a party, and I was terrified that they were going to close out the movie by saying, “this was all a bad trip!”, and I’m happy to report it did not go that way. I also occasionally feel like Diablo Cody shoehorns in some of those witticisms, or that unique way that she has of speaking, occasionally there were lines that felt that way, but on the whole I thought that it was really good.

Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows, in a look inspired by 1980s Madonna.

To add to the compliments for this movie, I thought the casting was like perfect. Kathryn Newton, who I was just talking about in my trailer reaction for Abigail, must be the hardest working woman in Hollywood right now. She is our lead and she was perfect. She was funny, and she was dark, she was dramatic, but she was light. She was all the things that I wanted her to be, and there are so many basic ways or one-note ways I could have seen the role being, and she was a thousand notes. It was great!

Carla Gugino, Liza Soberano, Kathryn Newton, and Joe Christ were flawlessly cast in Lisa Frankenstein.

I had never heard of Liza Soberano before this movie - maybe I should have because she has 18 million Instagram followers - so I don’t know where I’ve been. She plays the sort of hot cheerleader stepsister who you feel like you’ve seen a thousand times. We think we know exactly what this character is, but she’s actually really like sweet and welcoming to Kathryn Newton’s character in a way that literally nobody else is. I know that some of what she brought to the role has to do with Diablo Cody and her writing. She wouldn’t have been that way had it not been in the script, but on the other side, she still played it in this way that felt new and fresh and unique. I don’t think every actress could have done it that way. I’m really excited to see more of what Liza Soberano has done and more of what she can do.

As for Carla Gugino, who I ‘m in love with: I thought again, she was note-for-note perfect. She hit everything so right. I only wish we could have had more of her, but I understand why we couldn’t.

Lastly, Cole Sprouse as the Creature. I really have to commend him, because he spends almost half of the movie completely unrecognizable. If you didn’t know that it was him going into the movie, you probably wouldn’t realize until pretty late on that it was him. He has basically no lines! He speaks in grunts, in sounds, in body language, in looks. And this could have been repetitive or distracting, it could have been a problem, but he managed to do it really well.

I think that he and Kathryn Newton both had these really great evolutions, these journeys that they were on. In some ways, Kathryn Newton’s journey could have happened without Cole Sprouse. (Obviously, the movie wouldn’t have happened, but her journey could have happened.) But I think that Cole Sprouse recognized that. He came forward, he did what he needed to do in service of her, and then he kind of blended back so Kathryn Newton could go where she needed to go. I think that actually takes some real understanding, depth, and knowledge, to be able to step in and then give that space like that.

Cole Sprouse was unrecognizable as The Creature.

One thing that was really fun was trying to hone in on all of the classic references in this film. And I’m sure I didn’t even catch half of them on first watch. A Trip to the Moon made regular appearances in the film. They read a poem by Percy Shelley to Mary Shelley - the author of Frankenstein. Kathryn Newton is dressed as Nurse Ratchet in one scene. Then Kathryn Newton’s room is plastered with Universal Monsters photos and references.

Now I’m going to sound a little crazy or a little off, but sometimes I actually struggled with that in the film. The Universal Monsters and classic references sometimes felt shoehorned in. Yes, it’s awesome that they’re making reference to all these classic monsters, but I couldn’t figure out how or why Lisa Swallows would have those in her room.

She had a Creature from the Black Lagoon poster and a Karloff Mummy poster, and at least one other poster that appeared to have Karloff in Frankenstein. There was a sketch of the Gillman and even a Bauhaus poster, which would be reference to Bela Lugosi’s Dead and The Bela Sessions. Again, it was all really fun, and I spent a lot of time staring at her walls in scenes. I never want to say that I want less monsters or fewer references - anything is better than nothing. But I sort of wish that they were more purposeful, and that they weren’t just throwing things up, but they were figuring out why Lisa would have had these in her room or put them up in a way that made sense for her.

I’m not selling these, but I will post an affiliate link. On Etsy for instance, there are these Universal Monsters black lights that I think are so cool, and aesthetically in her room, they would have looked awesome and would have been this great statement piece instead of throwing another poster on the wall.

Frankenstein movie poster (1931).

The other thing that pulled me out of the movie from time to time was it felt a little too self-aware at times. I could tell in a scene that they were looking for their gif or their meme-able moment. It teetered on the brink of inauthenticity. I think I could see that certain quotes, looks, costumes or moments - it almost felt like it was serving the promo and the marketing team, rather than serving the movie itself.

With all that said, overall I thought this movie was so fun. It is absolutely going to become a guilty pleasure movie for me. I can see myself throwing it on all the time, I have a feeling at some point I’m going to know the quotes. It is absolutely my kind of movie.

Additionally, I really enjoyed the themes and the messages that I got out of it. I interpreted Lisa Frankenstein as grappling with grief, and with life and death, and even who to be in this world. One of my favorite quotes from the film was about Time. “They say time heals all wounds, but time is the wound. It takes you further and further from when you were happy.” I don’t know it just really hit me right in the heart.

Now unfortunately, I was literally the only person in the theater when I saw Lisa Frankenstein, which might not bode well for the box office. When I asked on social media, many friends posted they were going to see the movie, but not many had yet. My prediction is that this is not going to be a big banger box office film, but I think it has potential to get a really strong cult following. I actually do see this movie standing the test of time.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery movie viewing.

I would not be surprised if ten years from now Hollywood Forever is doing a big screening in the cemetery, and everybody goes knowing every line from this movie. It feels like it really has that potential to me and I hope that turns out to be right.

For everyone here that saw the movie, I want to know what you think! I want to know if you think that I’m right that it’s going to get a cult following, if you think it’s just going to burn out, or if you think that word of mouth is going to take this to number one at the box office.

I’m excited to see, but tell me, will you be a cult follower of Lisa Frankenstein?