scattershot, but undeniably funny

Diablo Cody promises a Frankenstein movie with “Lisa Frankenstein” and that is just what we’re going to get. The film has a juxtaposition of pastel suburban malaise and innocent gothic teen romance reminiscent of “Edward Scissorhands”, the murderous, witty spirit of “Heathers”, and the supernatural bent of several teen movies, most specifically reminding of Cody’s own “Jennifer’s Body”.

She seems to be combining these things gleefully in what is very much a fantastically funny movie. Just Zelda Williams, daughter of the late, great Robin Williams, couldn’t have picked a more wild, scattershot movie to try and make her directorial debut with. The film is a hoot of 80’s nostalgia with a grosser, meaner wit which makes it better than most comedies these days. Just don’t think too hard in trying to make it coherent.

The film follows a frizzy haired teen outcast of the late 1980’s named Lisa (Kathryn Newton). She comes from a traumatic past and, hoping to move on, her father has remarried and moved them both to a pastel hell hole of suburban cheerfulness. A brainy introvert who prefers the film work of Melies and the old monsters films of old than a Highschool party, the girl is consistently misunderstood.

No wonder she seems to enjoy spending her free time in the cemetery, where the bust of some dreamy-looking 19th century dude adorns a headstone coincidentally reading Frankenstein. Lisa not only wishes she could have lived in that time period but also that she could meet the guy she so lovingly looks upon, which a fortuitous bolt of lightning allows her to do.

He’s a growling, groaning, lurching monster, played by Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse as a sort of goth innocent out of a Tim Burton movie. He plays the piano, is attentive to her needs, and cutely groans through as she dresses him in modern day clothes. Is a romance blooming? Since she also seems to like her hunky high school yearbook editor, it’s hard to tell. Yet a scene featuring a rendition of an REO Speedwagon song hints at the beautiful music they could make.

But Frankenstein needs a few upgrades and a definitive make-over, which is where the film suddenly and not all-together convincingly becomes one of those high school murder comedies. Lisa uses him to get rid of the people making her life such a misery and she in turn chops off their body parts and sews them on her monster, using a malfunctioning tanning bed in her family garage to help in the rebuilding process.

Lisa’s jump to full-scale murderer is a big narrative leap, and it’s hard to tell where she’s getting her newfound confidence from, as she keeps arriving at school in outfits that mirror late-80’s Madonna. There’s also moments where the film seems to have something more to say about dealing with high school life and death and grief yet the movie is too unfocused to really make any of that matter.

The thing is when it does lean into the fantasy of the storyline, it’s better than first appears. Williams makes sure many of the deaths have a tinge of comic humility and Cody is not only good at crafting smart characters, but also razor sharp dialogue at times. A supporting cast of purely deplorable people also helps the deaths go down easier: Carla Gugino and Liza Soberano playing Lisa’s Ice queen step-mom and vapid step-sister are doing great here.

As for Lisa, not much of the character makes a lot of sense but Newton owns a kind of punk-rock, anti-establishment attitude which occasionally fools us into thinking that the film is about more than it is. Everything from the clothes, hair, music, and aesthetic is a kind of 80’s exaggeration, even the throwback nature of the horror comedy itself. It’s kitschy, which isn’t such a bad thing when it’s also quirky and fun at the same time.

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