I like a good movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. In the 80s, I lived off the likes of Volunteers and Better Off Dead, mainly for the goofy nature of the films. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with good old-fashioned dumb fun. It’s what the 80s thrived on until it approached the 90s.
Now, I mention this because that is what Lisa Frankenstein aspired to be. It borrowed a heavy amount of backdrop from 80s cinema and presented a modern-day comedy retelling of the Frankenstein story in that 80s structure. But, poor writing and direction didn’t do that structure any justice, as some of that comedy ranged from flat to downright uncomfortable.
So, let’s piece a review together and electrify it with a strong opinion.
Official Synopsis
After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness … and a few missing body parts along the way.
I get the concept that they were shooting for with this film. Having the lead character take up the mantle of a famous film icon that launched ‘the creature’ into the world in a haphazard way should have been an easy task, as the groundwork for the narrative path was written a long time ago. It seemed like it just needed some adjusting along the way for modern times. Honestly, it could not have been an easier path for this story to take. It was right there!
But that path wasn’t taken, which was just baffling. Let’s break down the first two acts, and just not talk about the third one. I don’t want to ruin any expectations in the third act or spoil the film.
The first act of Lisa Frankenstein starts well enough. We’re introduced to Lisa (Kathryn Newton) and her home life. We’re introduced to the fact that her mom was murdered in front of her eyes, which probably was the crux of her trauma, and then we’re shown that her clueless father remarried a terrible woman who brought along her perfect daughter and Lisa’s new stepsister named Taffy (Liza Soberano). All of this combined made Lisa who she ends up being – an outcast and loner. All of this, combined with Lisa’s unchecked mental health, pushed her to a point that is finally broken with she is sexually assaulted at a high school party. During this time, we’re also introduced to the love of her life. Well, before the introduction to the other love of her life. It’s a lot to ingest at the beginning of the film in the first act.
The first act doesn’t really have a lot of time to explain Lisa and doesn’t do a great job of putting together a proper development of her character. We’re simply thrown this information above and then expected to go along with it. It can be assumed that she is an outcast without much push with the above handful of moments. Honestly, the death of her mom could have been the catalyst for her big change. The script could have thrown in some connection with Doctor Frankenstein of old at the same time, maybe Lisa was a gifted student on her way to a promising college career, but the murder of her mother derailed her life completely. It could have been just that simple. But it’s as if the story and the character could not be trusted to deliver that simplicity. It was all right there!
All of this before we even have a solid connection with the creature and a reason for him to exist. When he is introduced into the mix, he is just a sprinkle into the story. An admiration of the character and someone who doesn’t have a rhyme or a reason to be there with Lisa. The story simply doesn’t provide a proper road for Lisa to travel to get to him. The only reason we get him into her equation is because Lisa’s trauma essentially turns her into a dark and brooding teen. No real solid explanation for connecting with him. It’s as if they just needed to get the creature in and trauma was a good enough reason. It’s a fast and messy way to begin a film.
The second act takes that same path with its development. The creature is trying to adapt to the new world that Lisa resides in. He seems equally confused about his existence as the audience and stumbles back and forth with the cruelty of Lisa’s life lessons. Eventually, both the creature and Lisa get on the same page, and even more so when Lisa takes out her stepmom. From that point on, Lisa commits to a rawer life where the creature and her go on a revenge tour, and both taste freedom from life at every given moment. We jump from the murder of the stepmom, something she hides from her clueless father to revenge on her sexual assaulter, something somewhat motivated by the need for a human hand for her creature. The story wants to transition Lisa so badly but the poorly written parts to get her there have little to no connection with that character progression. The story’s second act eventually jumps back and forth between an unnerving murder cover-up and the creature needing parts for his eventual human completion and progression. Yes, all the parts. ALL the parts. While the 80s wackiness is full-on display with reasoning through these murder moments, they produce loose ends that make no sense and are all on display by the end of the second act. The exciting part was that there is no way of telling where the story was going to go, as it kept me guessing. The bad part was that the story was just so lost that I’m not sure it knew where it was going. Comedy and shock were leading the way in the second act.
There is so much going on in the second act that it feels like the writer and director didn’t know which way they wanted to take the story. What it looked like was that they decided to capture moments of comedy, tragedy, and potential connecting aspects of the story instead of keeping it on one single path. I’ve seen movies do this before where you have a bouquet situation with small payoffs instead of writing out one gigantic cohesive story that builds up to a single climactic moment. The problem with small payoffs without proper build is that you don’t develop your characters at all and don’t create a proper journey for them to go on. This is really an issue with Lisa’s story, as her character must descend into madness properly and believably, even going as far as believing that her motives and actions were in the right, an aspect of Doctor Frankenstein that has worked repeatedly in previous films. The small payoffs created small moments but left a sense that Lisa was a murderer that is doing some batshit insane things, a place that has no room for empathy or sympathy from the audience.
It’s a real shame this happened. This movie had all the markings of a good, dark, goofy comedy that twists the Frankenstein tale towards a new direction. Again, the path from previous Frankenstein movies was laid out perfectly for this film to succeed and the 80s structure would have allowed the characters to be as ‘off’ as they needed to be. It just never took advantage of either.
There is nothing wrong with kicking up an old formula to put a new spin on it. The skeleton might have been the same, but the film’s avatar on top of that old skeleton would have certainly made that body seem fresh. In the end, this movie simply didn’t work. It was just all over the place. It never had a firm direction, never felt like it was cohesively written from act to act, and it just seemed like a wasted opportunity to do something memorable and fun (even in a dark way).
Digital Features
Sometimes a bad film can be helped by some good features. I think that this is one of those times, but the help can’t save the film. Here’s what you’re getting with Lisa Frankenstein’s special features:
- DELETED SCENES
- Get Me Out of Hell!
- Knock Knock
- Music Lovers
- Incredible Friend
- Breaking News
- GAG REEL
- RESURRECTING THE 1980’s – Set in 1989, LISA FRANKENSTEINis a loving tribute to the wacky, tacky, yet totally awesome 80s. Every department of production embraced the stylized world Diablo Cody created in her script and brought their A-game to making this colorful world a reality.
- AN ELECTRIC CONNECTION – While it’s no easy feat to turn a 19th century dead guy into the perfect boyfriend, this piece explores Lisa and her charming Creature and what makes their relationship work. Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, and filmmakers explore how Lisa and Creature really need each other to truly thrive, why Creature is the “perfect man,” and Lisa’s choice at the end of the film.
- A DARK COMEDY DUO – Well-known for her ability to subvert genres, Diablo Cody delves into the inspiration behind LISA FRANKENSTEIN, what made her want to give the Frankenstein story a youthful, modern twist full of both horror and hilarity, and why Zelda Williams was the perfect choice to bring her story to life.
- FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR ZELDA WILLIAMS
Again, these are solid features that contain some genuine direction and thought. They’re entertaining and informative, and they show that the actors were all in on the idea. You’ll certainly get some good stuff out of these.
Conclusion
While the lead character of Lisa is strong, running on sadness and anger, something Doctor Frankenstein was in nearly all films prior, the story structure and direction simply fell to pieces. The first act was an uncomfortable and almost tragic setup that paved a weird way for the rest of the acts to go. Those subsequent acts had their own stories they wanted to tell, though broken into smaller payoff moments rather than something bigger, which meant no clear path of coherency or consistency could be achieved. If there could have been a more direct path for the lead character to go, maybe even a healthy explanation of the creature, and fewer side characters and more meaningfully developed ones, then this might have captured the essence of a goofy 80s comedy.
As it stands, Lisa Frankenstein is simply a bad film.
