Lisa Frankenstein Promo Image IMDb
!Contains Spoilers!
“Lisa Frankenstein” does a modern take on classic 80’s horror comedy and certainly captures audiences doing it.
The film centers around a teenage girl named Lisa (Kathryn Newton) who develops an interest with a man who died in the 1800’s (Cole Sprouse). He comes alive through a freak accident and finds Lisa.
From the start the movie does a stunning job with the visuals. The character designs and costumes are on point. A common downfall of 80’s retellings is poor costuming and makeup, but that’s never an issue here.
The movie has added animations which can come off as cheesy to some, but fits perfectly with “Lisa Frankenstein’s” aesthetic. Part of what makes these animations work is the brilliant soundtrack throughout the movie.
Usually, I don’t take interest in movie soundtracks, but I found myself really enjoying the soundtrack in this movie. I think the movie makes a smart choice by having music in specific scenes, rather than all throughout the movie. It makes the music stand out more to the audience.
They also make use of props, such as the scene where Lisa plays the band “The Cure” for the creature when he is initially reanimated.
Music aside, a major part of what I enjoyed about this movie was the combination of “Goth” and “Gothic” aesthetics. The juxtaposition between having a goth female lead and a gothic male lead is genius and definitely pulls in a niche audience for this movie.
Goth subculture and Gothic literature often go hand in hand, which I think is what makes this movie a lot more fun to watch. It’s certainly a smart way to modernize gothic literature.
I definitely think Lisa Frankenstein is not for everyone, though. If you’re not a fan of over the top or “out there” movies, this one may not be for you.
It truly embraces the campy aesthetic it’s going for, a lot of it through its characters. Lisa Frankenstein does a wonderful job of making its characters engaging to watch.
Cole Sprouse stands out the most in this regard. Despite not talking throughout most of the movie, he’s amazing at expressing his character’s emotions in a way that doesn’t bore the audience. It feels as if the creature truly is communicating with Lisa.
Lisa is another interesting character to me. She feels very reminiscent of Winona Ryder’s characters in Tim Burton movies from the 90’s. She’s spunky and awkward in a mesmerizing way.
Newton truly breathes life into Lisa through her mannerisms and voice, which is something that stood out to me the most about her character.
Despite this, the character I adored the most was Taffy (Liza Soberano). Originally, I went into this movie thinking she would be the “evil” step-sister but Taffy proved to be the opposite.
I loved that she was supportive and a great sister to Lisa. Taffy is like the big sister everyone wishes they had.
Soberano elevates her further through her acting, which stands out towards the end of the movie. There is a scene in a car between Taffy and Lisa towards the end of the movie that I still haven’t been able to forget.
Taffy had almost no lines, but her nonverbal acting was incredible. Soberano definitely has potential to enter “scream queen” status if she leans into more horror roles,
In regards to the horror, I don’t think this movie had enough of it. This can likely be attributed to the movie’s PG-13 rating, but I would’ve preferred if there was more horror.
I watched this movie in the theaters, and while everyone around me was laughing, the horror scenes weren’t anything special.
I did like the gothic feel of it though, that aspect saved these scenes for me. With the PG-13 rating, they did a good job of appealing to a younger audience.
Though, I think “Lisa Frankenstein” could have been better if it was written for a mature audience. This is the type of movie that does well by being over the top and to me it feels like they played it safe.
If it took more risks and went full out with the campy gothic themes, this movie would have been much better.
I do think it’s a good movie and worth the watch, but they definitely could have done more with it even with being geared towards younger audiences.
Overall, I had a great time watching this movie. If you’re a fan of Tim Burton, Winona Ryder, or Rocky Horror, this is definitely a movie for you.
I’d rate this movie a 7/10. It’s great for a teen/young adult audience.
“Lisa Frankenstein” is out in theaters and available to purchase on streaming sites.