Lisa Frankenstein splits the difference between Edward Scissorhands and Heathers. It’s a horror comedy about a sensitive, somewhat deranged young woman and her murderous, nonverbal love interest. It is weirder and darker than you might expect—the kind of film that takes its time developing its off-kilter point of view before descending into cheeky madness. Along with screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin) builds her film around specific frustrations that can only come from people who look at the status quo and sneer in disgust. This yearning for authenticity will never go out of style, so Williams’ film has the potential to become a cult classic alongside its primary influences.
At first, the artificiality of the late ‘80s setting is almost a distraction. Like the aforementioned Tim Burton film, Williams imagines a cookie-cutter suburban town where pastels cover every person and building. Lisa (Kathryn Newton) already does not fit in—she likes the Cure and German filmmakers from the silent era—and her tragic past only furthers her loneliness. Her mother was butchered by a mysterious axe murderer, and her father (Joe Chrest) quickly married control-freak Janet Swallows (Carla Gugino). The sympathy of Lisa’s conformist stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano) can only go so far, meaning Lisa eventually finds herself wandering a “bachelor cemetery” where she imagines a romantic, quasi-tragic life for herself with one of the young men buried there. When lightning strikes the cemetery, the corpse of a young man (Cole Sprouse) reanimates and pays Lisa a visit. After the initial terror, she finds a reliable companion in him.
The key difference between this story and most riffs on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is that Lisa does not create life deliberately. The monster shows up on her doorstep, and she has no choice but to figure out how to make the most of the situation. Newton’s plucky performance smooths over the more awkward plot developments—like how quickly she gives the monster a makeover—which is just as well since it takes a little while to figure out what direction Lisa Frankenstein is going in. At first, it seems like a run-off-the-mill horror comedy where each development has a predictable payoff. Williams is not yet a great stylist, and since she would be the first to acknowledge her influences, there is a sense of frustration as the plot coasts on predictability, rather than reinvention.
All this frustration disappears, however, once Lisa embraces the amoral habits of her new friend. She is complicit in multiple murders, and each one is a little easier to go through with than the last. This is where Cody and Williams shake off the cobwebs to reveal their film is darker and more provocative than the opening stretch would have you believe. Cody, who also wrote the screenplay for cult classic Jennifer’s Body, has a deep understanding and sympathy for monsters, as well as the kind of people drawn to them. Lisa has a homicidal streak, but from her point of view, no one is authentic enough to be worthy of remorse. In this sense, Lisa Frankenstein is a fantasy because it shares the same perspective as its protagonist. The worst sin in the film is not murder, but a boy who likes quirky things and prefers ordinary girls.
Since Lisa Frankenstein embraces murder with zeal, it is necessary that the violence is more comic than disturbing. Williams shows some blood, then cuts away at key moments, a signal that nothing we see is too serious or grisly. She does find room for sight gags, like when male appendages fly through the air, or the monster unexpectedly wields an axe like a superhero. Another shrewd choice is how the monster’s improved physical appearance coincides with Lisa’s decent into bloodlust. By the end, Sprouse looks like a young Jack White, so Lisa considers him a real romantic possibility, rather than a strange, new companion. None of this is meant to rationalize murder, only to challenge our empathy. Soberano gets a lot of early laughs as Taffy (the only mainstream character with a hint of self-awareness), and her shift toward the film’s sole voice of reason—mostly achieved through blood-curdling screams—is a shrewd way for the film to provide a moral streak without being too on-the-nose about it.
In between the carnage and romance, Lisa Frankenstein includes enough references to assure older viewers that Cody and Williams know their shit. The soundtrack is full of needle drops that will please Gen Xers, including a well-timed creepy version of “Wave of Mutilation,” and Lisa’s transformation into a goth-adjacent teen is complete once she dresses like an extra from Desperately Seeking Susan. Younger audiences may miss all these shibboleths, but hopefully they may be curious about the soundtrack and costumes in the long run. The film culminates in a provocative final image that is more open to interpretation than any of the film’s influences. When we look into Lisa’s eyes, we are not sure what to think. Is she happy, or just as dejected as when she started? Lisa Frankenstein knows the thrill of newfound companionship is ephemeral, that liking the same things is no basis for happiness, but maybe Lisa realizes this only when it’s too late.
Photo courtesy of Focus Features
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