Lisa Frankenstein

Some thoughts on the comedy horror film 'Lisa Frankenstein' directed by Zelda Williams. For those unaware, this film is centered around a misunderstood teenager and a Victorian reanimated corpse.

To start, I absolutely loved the eighties style and surreal vibes, I was pleased that they used animation at the start to demonstrate the story, it made for a good introduction straight into the awkwardness of her family and social situation. A definite highlight of this film is the potent portrayal of grief which of course helped inspire the original 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley, I am glad to see that represented.

Credit: IMDB

I admired Lisa Frankenstein, especially her makeup and sense of style. I was amused to see that many of her eyeshadow colours are ones I apply often, and the same with her blue and purple mascara (#cleangirlmakeup has never been my style). Also, her black dress and hat look was an absolute mood, I loved the way her style developed through the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POOeA3zCuUY

I especially enjoy her interactions with her stepmother and stepsister. I know the evil step mother role is overdone, but this one is genuinely quite good, Carla Gugino was a great choice. I liked that Lisa's stepsister was ultimately trying to help and be supportive also.

I liked the comedy moments as 'the creature' attempts to make sense of the new world around him and support Lisa (I did gag at the worm scene, very reminiscent to Brain Dead). I was amused also by the resemblance between 'the creature' and Edward Scissorhands.

The way they worked together to extract revenge from the creep was amusing and the use of tanning beds to help heal Frankenstein's appearance was such an eighties mood.

This film is definitely very much a teenager romantic horror comedy and I do somewhat enjoy that combination sometimes. One of my all time favourite films from that genre is 'Jennifer's Body' (it makes me cackle everytime I watch it, and I have watched it many times) and it turns out that Lisa Frankenstein is part of the same film universe, as confirmed by the writer Diablo Cody.

This film might not be the best of that genre, but I enjoyed watching it and would recommend to any Neurodiverse friends looking for a romantic horror comedy.