If 2024 was going exactly how you thought, then it’s time to throw the switch because Zelda Williams’ feature-length directorial debut is here, and it’s a creation with…LIFE!!
Set in 1989, the film follows the outcast Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton), who constantly finds her most inner peace when she visits the grave of a Victorian man at an unkept graveyard, envisioning just what life would be like with the man of her dreams. However, one party and a freaky storm later, she comes to work on it, as the man beneath the soil is re-animated, and, piece by piece, Lisa makes her dreams a reality!
Mary Shelley’s story of Frankenstein is re-energised with an empowered punch in this ‘80s throwback jolt of horror comedy, which is far more than just stitched-together parts of films you have seen before.
Lisa Frankenstein wears its many influences proudly, of course. She so visibly loves them, from the Universal monsters the studio was built upon to Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, but it owns its own feisty story with confidence. You can, of course, see the likes of Weird Science and Heathers in its spliced DNA, but unlike so many born of such plentiful horror, teen comedy and monster entertainment that is revered today, this film has a bloody good chance of being ranked with the classics it adores.
A story of grief and coming out of the other side of the time-devouring darkness it can cast on your life, this Gothic romance is also a film about finding the right companionship that will speak to a select audience who will likely love every inch of inch of its undead frame. More than that, though, Diablo Cody’s (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) screenplay will grasp the hearts of those of us who have ever felt alone (or still do), those of us left behind by a world that encourages moving on and forgetting the people we cared for, and burying our feelings to “just be sane”. Themes all carefully wrapped in a campy, horror-ific experience that has such Rocky Horror spirit.
Kathryn Newton is an absolute revelation as Lisa in a poignant, charismatic, and barnstorming performance. You cannot take your eyes off her electric eccentricity, just as you cannot help but feel the pain behind her persistence to survive and live (even though she is only about to start doing that second part again). While Cole Sprouse’s very physical performance as ‘The Creature’ is evocative of early Depp and an endearing portrayal of life after death, that creates a cracking big screen duo.
Even as the film threatens to go over the edge in its last act, you end up loving its demented quirks all the more by the end. Its stylish flights of cinematic fancy throughout, dark-themed laughs and undying spark all combine to create a riotously entertaining big-screen delight that will be a hell of a “from the director of” calling card for Williams in what should be a promising filmmaking career ahead.
Lisa Frankenstein is a wickedly funny, endlessly rewatchable and dead set to be a future cult classic.
Lisa Frankenstein is available on Blu-ray and DVD from June 3rd.
