'Lisa Frankenstein' review: John Hughes and Tim Burton's twisted love child has risen | 9F73R1J | 2024-03-30 10:08:01
Imagine for a moment the teenager goals of John Hughes collided with the goth and gunk of '80s-era Tim Burton, and you'll have an inkling of what Lisa Frankenstein has in store for you.&
Heavy influenced by '80s comedies from each of these iconic filmmakers as well as Mary Shelley's horror-spawning novel Frankenstein, screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Zelda Williams have birthed a coming-of-age romance the place bizarre woman meets undead boy that's as unholy as it's hilarious.&
Cody, who scribed the Oscar-winning teen comedy Juno and the cult-adored horror comedy Jennifer's Body, has cast her profession in tales of misfit women coming of age by means of chopping jokes, intelligent catchphrases, and carnage —& be it emotional, psychological, bloody, or all the above. Lisa Frankenstein is the sister film halfway between Juno's folk-pop quirkiness and Jennifer's Body's gnarly, boy-eating wrath. In Lisa Frankenstein, the titular heroine is allowed to be charming, messy, sexy, and even murderous. And we're invited alongside for the wild experience.&
Lisa Frankenstein re-imagines Mary Shelley with '80s weirdness.
The '80s have been lush with completely bonkers comedies, starting from the attractive sci-fi of Hughes' Bizarre Science and Julien Temple's Earth Women Are Straightforward to the macabre humor of Joe Dante's The 'Burbs and Michael Lehmann's Heathers to the goth and gross splendor of Burton's Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands (which yes, was technically 1990). All of these have been films that sunk their tooth into concepts of love, intercourse, and dying with relish. Nothing was sacred, so teen boys may by chance flip a bullying brother right into a literal pile of shit, and teenage women may retort, "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw."
That is the period for which Lisa Frankenstein pines. And though the film's set is peppered with extra cheery iconography from the period, like sneaker telephones, REO Speedwagon sheet music, and Care Bears, this gleefully fucked-up comedy walks solidly within the footsteps of people who come before. For here is a film that isn't afraid to wear its oddball coronary heart on its sleeve, combining the attractive and horrific, the goofy and the gross, to dynamic impact.&
Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse make a monstrous power couple.&
</div> The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania actress stars as Lisa Swallows, a brand new child in high school who's struggling to make associates, regardless of the earnest efforts of her stepsister Taffy (a winsome Liza Soberano), a chipper cheerleader harking back to Juno's perky bestie, Leah. Because of a dark occasion in her previous, Lisa does not share the joie de vivre of her classmates, and so imagines she is perhaps higher understood by the long-dead bachelor buried in a nearby deserted cemetery. (She likes the look of his gravestone.)
What may need only been the stuff of confusing intercourse goals becomes a bit of a nightmare when The Creature (Sprouse, caked in mud, bugs, and decay) rises from the grave to assist Lisa discover her bliss.&
Teen women' paths of self-discovery are sometimes winding and dramatic, but Lisa swiftly moves from pining and peer strain to mayhem and homicide. You see, The Creature's glad to lend Lisa a figurative hand when it comes to trend ideas and self-preservation. However when he literally needs a hand, murder is a homespun answer that catches on — with Lisa discovering her internal Dr. Frankenstein, stitching recent corpse bits to her beastly bestie.&
Lisa Frankenstein is wonky, bizarre, and wondrous.&
</div> Making her function directorial debut, Williams gets off to a wobbly begin. The movie finds its footing by way of a barrage: There's a flashback, a drug journey, an allusion-studded dream sequence, and a clunky meet-cute. It can be tough to get a beat on who Lisa is beyond all of the flare. However Newton and Sprouse discover their rhythm. She evolves right into a cocky huge mouth with grand ideas and even grander gestures; he provides an almost wordless performance that depends heavily on bodily comedy with some nuanced grunting. (As May December has proven, Riverdale is actually a masterclass for young actors.)&
Lisa's world is delivered to sensible life not solely by a candy-colored, neon-streaked, and gore-stained manufacturing design, but in addition by some stellar supporting turns. The Fall of the House of Usher's Carla Gugino seems to be channeling John Waters' Serial Mother as a menacing stepmother who spouts insults together with misapplied new-age terminology. With a dopey grin and an unflappable pluckiness, Joe Chrest is a pitch-perfect parody of many an '80s dad: nice and oblivious. Then there's Soberano, who almost steals the present.&
</div> Because Taffy is fairly, peppy, and well-liked, teen films have educated us to hate her. But Soberano complicates issues by making Taffy a certain delight. Although the character appear to be a throwback bimbo, Cody's script has a sex-positive and empathetic strategy that embraces this smiling stepsister into the sisterhood of misfit teens. She will not be a weirdo, however generously offering her wardrobe, her optimism, and her tanning bed, Taffy is more than just an ally or plot gadget. While the romance between Lisa and the Creature gets daffy and deranged, it is unexpectedly this big-hearted cheerleader who retains the film's stakes grounded. As Lisa Frankenstein frolics into a very bonkers third act, a single lengthy shot of Taffy's response lingers on, as do a few of Cody's sharpest one-liners.&
Colorful and chaotic, Lisa Frankenstein may seem like a unusual confection good for Valentine's Day. However Cody not often delivers something so easy or protected. Be it Juno's purposefully alarming love triangle, Jennifer's Physique's difficult portrait of feminine friendship (and queer girl lust), or Young Adult's anti-heroine's determined refusal to grow the fuck up, Diablo is a provocateur who delights in popular culture. This time, her teen story collides with horror, trauma, and putrid vomit, making a rom-com that is at occasions messy — however is finally a delightfully deranged deal with.&
In that approach, she and Williams have hit the sweet spot of these '80s comedies that have come before. As a result of, if we're trustworthy, lots of them have wonky bits. However we beloved them just the same. And simply as the youngsters of the '80s claimed those creepy comedies as our personal, I think the brand new era will clutch Lisa Frankenstein, seeing each wart as a jewel in its crown.&
Lisa Frankenstein is now streaming on Peacock.
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