Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Lisa Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie Review

Make sure you sure you set it to "Max Bronze".

Reviewed by Justin Dekker April 22, 2024

Working from a script penned by Diablo Cody ('Juno', 'Jennifer's Body', 'Young Adult'), Zelda Williams' horror-comedy 'Lisa Frankenstein' arrives on Blu-ray disc courtesy of Universal. Special features include a number of brief "making-of" features, a gag reel, and a feature-length commentary by Williams. Both a slipcover and a Digital Code are included.

I don't normally watch movies when I'm on an airplane, but as the flight I was on was a bit longer I decided I'd at least take a peek at what was being offered by way of in-flight entertainment. Much to my surprise, Terry Gilliam's Brazil was among the titles listed, so I dug out my headphones, pressed play, and settled in with this old favorite. Near the film's end, Jonathan Pryce's Sam Lowry, in his understated but triumphant way, says to the woman he's pursued for much of the film, "You don't exist anymore. I've killed you. Jill Layton is dead.". To which Jill (Kim Greist) querries, "Care for a little necrophilia?", a pithy but romantic and funny response given the situation. So it was that I had that little timeless nugget of dialogue dredged up from my memory as I sat down with Lisa Frankenstein.

While Director Zelda Williams may not yet be a household name, her father, the famously funny Robin, certainly was. Coupling that impressive lineage with a script authored by Diablo Cody of Juno fame and expectations for the film are certainly high. Offering audiences a decidedly different love story, Lisa Frankenstein focuses its attention on a young Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton, Big Little Lies, Detective Pikachu), a high school-aged goth girl who doesn't quite fit in. Lisa lived through a tragic incident that played out like something from an '80s slasher film: her mother was killed by an axe murderer and she was miraculously saved by the police before becoming a victim herself. As the film is set in 1989, this is played more for laughs than screams. Her father, Dale (Joe Chrest, Stranger Things, Deepwater Horizon), having recently remarried, she lives with her popular new stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano, Make it with You, Forevermore), and controlling stepmother Janet (Carla Guigano, Watchmen, Sin City, Sucker Punch). While she longs for the attention of pseudo-intellectual school newspaper editor Michael (Henry Eichenberry), Lisa spends a great deal of time at the local graveyard, specifically the grave of a young man from the Victorian era with a handsome bust adorning his headstone. After an electrical storm resurrects the long-deceased man, Lisa and The Creature (Chris Sprouse) begin an unlikely friendship while Lisa tries to navigate her toxic home life and high school while making him more human.

Williams' love for cinema is all over this film. There are nods to such '80s films as Weird Science, My Boyfriend's Back, Death Becomes Her, E.T., and Heathers, just to mention a few. Further, her affinity for Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon is evidenced by not only leveraging iconic clips from the film in dream sequences but also by having the most memorable still from the film showing up as a poster in Lisa's bedroom. Although, since the film is set in 1989, it could also be a reference to the Wonder Stuff's excellent sophomore album Hup which was released in October of that year. The one film it does its best to shy away from referencing is perhaps the one that many will have the most difficult time not comparing it to; Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Both feature "monstrous" male characters who are largely mute, both are concerned with the plight of outsiders in a society that doesn't understand them, and each on some level details the horror of suburbia.

Burton's film could perhaps best be described as a dark modern fairy tale through which horror, humor, and heart-warming elements flow organically. And while Lisa Frankenstein works hard to rival it in terms of weirdness it cannot match its tone. Positioned as a horror-comedy, when the jokes work, from the juvenile to the gross to the raunchy, Lisa Frankenstein is at its best. They humanize and add depth to Taffy, and demonstrate Lisa's growing confidence, creating two powerful, if immature, women. While they may be a bit morbid at times, it's fitting for the subject matter. The horror elements, however, jar the viewer out of this strangely humourous world, with acts of violence both spontaneous and carefully planned that largely seem mean-spirited. For them to be carried out by an undead monster is perhaps acceptable, though not entirely believable here, as the animated opening credits tell the story of the man before he was a monster, and he was clearly a cultured and refined gentleman who did not exhibit any antisocial tendencies let alone a proclivity for murder. The problem is amplified when Lisa begins to participate in the killings without any real transition time prior to the murders or remorse afterward. This abrupt shift from likable oddball loner to sociopathic killer erases much of the goodwill we feel for her character, and it makes the attempt to return to comedy more difficult as well.

For genre fans, finding the name "Frankenstein" in the title brings to mind a number of elements that are assumed will be present in the film. First and foremost, there is an expectation of a character with the Frankenstein surname, either male or female. Here, our virginal heroine has the somewhat unfortunate last name "Swallows". Second, at various points throughout the film one assumes time will be spent in a laboratory, secret or otherwise, filled to the rafters with fantastical equipment used in various experiments to fashion a creature and reanimate the dead. Lisa Swallows has no such scientific knowledge nor does she have a laboratory. In this instance, she isn't even directly (or indirectly) responsible for The Creature's resurrection as that feat is accomplished by a random lightning strike in the graveyard where he was interred, with subsequent augmentations being cured in a malfunctioning tanning bed. Whether portrayed by the inimitable Peter Cushing or the cult favorite Rosalba Neri, any good Frankenstein understands the need to work with fresh material, often employing grave robbers to source suitable bodies and parts for their work. Decomposition is the enemy of these experiments, yet in Lisa Frankenstein, somehow The Creature and his clothes remain miraculously largely intact approximately 150 years after he was buried. The closest linkage to the Frankenstein film legacy is found in how Lisa and The Creature obtain the parts needed to replace those he's missing: serial murder. Whilst Cushing and Neri, for example, specifically targeted and murdered their victims in some very dark films, Williams strives to have her characters perpetrate the same sinister actions and somehow remain likable. A task that becomes increasingly difficult as the body count climbs. In a move to tie the film to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and thus indirectly to her classic "Frankenstein", The Creature reads Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To Mary" to Lisa near the film's end, and rather more obscure and tenuous, the date of The Creature's death recorded on his headstone is 1837, the year of publication for Shelley's last novel, "Falkner". Ultimately, however, the title Lisa Frankenstein feels like a bit of a misnomer that trades on a name to drive interest.

Sprouse's slow but consistent progression from a shambling zombie to something approximating a living human is perhaps one of the film's most interesting and entertaining elements. With the addition of each body part and tanning session, The Creature regains a bit more coordination and humanity until, eventually, very little physically separates him from Lisa and her fellow students at the local high school. As he becomes less corpse-like, their affection for each other grows, with The Creature steadily moving further out of the "friend zone". The viewer knows exactly where the film is heading long before Lisa expresses her desire to rid herself of her unwanted virginal status, even if The Creature lacks the ability to ask, "Care for a little necrophilia?".

Lisa Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lisa Frankenstein looks quite good on Blu-ray. Detail levels are typically quite satisfying with textures pleasingly visible on Taffy and Lisa's terrycloth bathrobes and The Creature's tattered clothing after he emerges from the grave. Likewise, Lisa's perfectly coifed mane of massive 80's hair is also frequently on display, and is just as ripe for inspection as it is when completely disheveled the morning after the party and in the scene when Lisa first meets The Creature. The 80's color palette is faithfully rendered and looks suitably garish, though primaries such as the school's red lockers and Lisa's read dress near the film's close pop vibrantly. Environmental particulars are also strongly presented, with the richest setting being the graveyard where leaves, vines, blades of grass, and the textures of the carpets of moss that grow on the aged tombstones being precisely discernable. A highly stylized production, any visible softness or other effects seem to be purely intentional. Skin tones among the living are healthy and realistic. The greatest issue that the transfer grapples with is occasional black crush which inhabits some of the film's darker scenes

Lisa Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track does an excellent job with dialogue. It's always clear, understandable, and centrally focused. The track, thankfully, excells with the 80's soundtrack. In these moments, the track becomes consistently completely immersive as songs like The Pixies' "Wave of Mutilation" and The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head On" engulf the viewer. The thunderstorm that resurrects The Creature rumbles with an appropriate depth and realism that generates a bit of magic and menace in what is otherwise a rather domesticated presentation. Other sound effects, such as the sparking and malfunctioning tanning bed and the random acts of violence are pleasingly rendered as well. No defects were detected. English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are available.

Lisa Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

An assortment of special features are found on the disc and are as follows:

• Deleted Scenes (3.37) - "Get Me Out of Hell!" - A graveyard encounter that doesn't quite fit with the finished film, "Knock Knock" - an alternate scene of the first meeting between Lisa and The Creature, "Music Lovers" - a virtually wordless scene of The Creature listening to music through headphones while Lisa cleans, "Incredible Friend" - Lisa and The Creature discuss the dark side of their relationship while taking care of business, and "Breaking News" - A quick news segment about some tragic events.

• Gag Reel (2.26) - A collection of breaks, mistakes, and silly moments from filming.

• An Electric Connection (4.43) - Kathryn Newton (Lisa), Diablo Cody (Writer), Zelda Willaims (Director), Cole Sprouse (The Creature), and Liza Soberano (Taffy) discuss the project. The more substantial moments are when Cody speaks about writing the script and Sprouse discusses preparing to play The Creature.

• Resurrecting the '80s (4.34) - Cody talks about growing up in the '80s and her desire to set a film in that era, due to the music, hair, and fashion. Costume Designer Meagan McLaughlin Luster covers wardrobe choices to ground the film in the period, and Producer Mason Novick and Production Designer Mark Worthington address finding the locations used, colors, and set dressing. Carla Gugino explains Janet's world and Kathryn Newton expresses her appreciation for all things '80s.

• A Dark Comedy Duo (4.01) - Zelda Williams, Diablo Cody speak about injecting comedy into a dark story about a strong female character

• Feature Commentary - Zelda Williams (Director) goes solo in this commentary track. She provides some interesting insights about the opening credits sequence, finding locations and set elements, and a number changes made throughout the film in order to bring the film from an "R" rating to a "PG-13". Williams can sometimes fall silent, but she is at her best when talking about the films that influenced her and how she worked allusions or homages to them into this film. She doesn't really have an agenda or outline here, rather Willaims responds to moments and lines that strike her, provides anecdotes from filming, and delves into technical details regarding prosthetics, effects, and how various scenes were shot. Williams gets more comfortable and talkative as she settles in, even though she doesn't think many if any viewers are still there with her by the time the credits roll, but it's an enjoyable experience for those that are.

Lisa Frankenstein Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Zelda William's first full-length feature, Lisa Frankenstein, delivers some laughs and as much gooey horror as a PG-13 rating will allow set to a soundtrack of late 80's college radio staples. The film's tone, however, is ultimately uneven as is Cody's script which ranges from clever to clumsy. Greater success may have been achieved had the film either softened the horror elements or fully committed to a darker tone. The performances from Newton, Guigano, and Sprouse are entertaining and the commentary from Williams frequently leaves one wondering what might have been if the film had been able to maintain an "R" rating. Rent it.