Well, it’s only February, and I’ve already got a strong candidate for the worst of 2024. Lisa Frankenstein is yet another take on the horror classic and for my money, it lacks any kind of genuine thrills, there’s little to no chemistry between its two leads and you’d find more laughter in a graveyard.
It starts with Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows, a peculiar loner who lives with her dim-witted, clueless father (Joe Chrest), her bubbly stepsister (Liza Soberano), and her narcissistic, dominating stepmother (Carla Gugino). Lisa is still trying to overcome the death of her mother, and her new family is not making things any easier.
Lisa visits a grave one night after a party goes disastrously wrong and she speaks to the grave wishing she could be a part of the dead. Lightning strikes the grave and it brings the occupant back to life. He’s a young man (Cole Sprouse) and he’s immediately love-struck when he meets Lisa.
Lisa is initially repulsed by the creature, but then she slowly but gradually accepts him, and the two begin to like one another. You get 10 bonus points if you can figure out where this plot thread leads.
Lisa Frankenstein marks the directorial debut of Zelda Williams, Robin’s daughter. Diablo Cody, who penned Juno and Jennifer’s Body, wrote the screenplay.
What a strange, drab mess this movie is. If anything, it’s like the Frankenstein monster character. It just simply recycles old parts instead of trying a new formula and the results are interminable even at 101 minutes.
If laughter was a meal, this movie left me starving. None of the jokes work with its fish-out-of-water premise, and the chemistry between Newton and Sprouse is among the least convincing I’ve seen in any romantic movie. Their interactions are a series of repetitive misunderstandings and trying to find new body parts for the creature when they fall off, such as a hand.
Lisa Frankenstein would only work well for those who are desperate for entertainment and can’t find anything else to see.
This movie was DOA from the first frame, and nothing could bring it back to life.
Grade: D
(Rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, sexual material, language, sexual assault, teen drinking and drug content.)
