Directed by: Zelda Williams
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Carla Gugino, Liza Soberano, Joe Chrest, Henry Eikenberry
Lisa Frankenstein mashes up several genres with mixed results, as you would almost expect when you combine macabre horror with teen comedy. Zelda Williams' (daughter of Robin) directorial debut harkens back to 80's comedies with a movie that takes place in the 80's and feels like it was made then. That's a compliment and one thing about Lisa Frankenstein is it aims to be above-average even if the results are not fully successful.
Lisa Swallows (Newton) is a high-schooler in 1989 whose mother committed suicide a short time ago and her father (Chrest) remarries a verbally cruel stepmother (Gugino) who is trying to have her committed. Lisa hangs out often in an old cemetery where a Victorian-era young man (Sprouse) has been buried for over a century. Lisa likes the man's image on the headstone bust and one night, when she accidentally ingests LSD at a party, she stumbles her way to the cemetery, wishes that she could be with the man, and that night the reanimated corpse of the young man shows up at Lisa's house.
This is where things, as they say, get complicated. The man (who if I recall is never named) is missing body parts like an ear, hands, and even a penis. Lisa and he then go on a killing spree to recover body parts which Lisa sews onto her new love interest and then places him in a tanning machine to enhance color and meld the parts to his body. It is here where the movie transforms from offbeat to bloody comedy, but I suppose with a title like Lisa Frankenstein, this would be halfway anticipated.
Newton has a funny way of moving, talking, and sometimes walking which is off-kilter and inspired. Even Sprouse finds a method of making the man sympathetic and communicative even if he does little but grunt. Lisa Frankenstein in some areas defies expectations while in others sinking beneath them.
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