Synopsis: A coming of RAGE love story from acclaimed writer Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. 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.
What We Thought:
I loved Kathryn Newton in Freaky and saw Lisa Frankenstein because of that. Unfortunately Lisa Frankenstein is a hot mess that has no idea what it wants to be. Is it a Zom-Rom-Com? Is it a coming of age flick? Is it a throwback to the 80s? Is it a horror homage to Heathers? Is it all of those combined, but nowhere near as good as all that sounds? Yep.
Somewhere in the film is a good movie to be had. It has an 80s era setting and I say era because most throwback films use songs, clothing and slang from the entire decade despite saying what year it takes place. The early 1980s and late 1980s were very different and are practically different decades. Clothing, music, references and more can be all over the map in new movies based in older decades and this one suffers from that as well.
The biggest issue is the huge tonal shifts. It wants to be a comedy with big, over-the-top comedic elements. It also wants a love story with Newton’s character first pining over one boy then getting her heart broken before eventually pining for the dead boy. It’s called Lisa Frankenstein, the boy rises from his grave, he should have been the love interest the entire film. It could have been a Zom-Rom-Com (zombie romantic comedy) like the fantastic Warm Bodies, but it misses the mark constantly. The outcast with the fish-out-of-water love interest is a tried and true trope because it works. Make the dead boy the love interest throughout.
The dead boy coming back to life in a world he’s unfamiliar with should get big laughs. Killing people to help him become a real person should get big laughs. And at times it does, but there’s also some really unnecessary stuff in between. I watched the movie two weeks ago and still don’t understand the point of the vibrator scene. Newton’s family situation isn’t necessary and really doesn’t add much. The original love interest isn’t necessary either. It all feels like filler for an idea that could be funny, but the writer and director didn’t have enough material to work with. Great idea, bad result.
Lisa Frankenstein was a disappointment. I was hoping for something off beat enough that it would entertain me and sneak through the year as a fun favorite ala Renfield. Instead I’ll forget it exists and won’t have a reason to watch it again. It seems like a project two friends had an idea for, but didn’t know how to expand on it. The ending doesn’t work and feels rushed as well. We’ve gotten a lot of throwbacks of late like Totally Killer, My Best Friend’s Exorcism and now this, but they all feel like what people think the 1980s were like by today’s perspective and not what they were actually like.
The Nerds Templar 