Lisa Frankenstein is a pop culture reference machine; it’s a fun time even though it’s not perfect.
Lisa Frankenstein (2024) is the first major motion picture feature directed by Zelda Williams, who is Robin Williams’s daughter. Zelda Williams has acted and directed a couple of music videos, but this is her first full-length feature film directing debut. Lisa Frankenstein (2024) also stars Cole Sprouse, whom many know from “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and “Riverdale.” Our lead is Kathryn Newton, whom you might know from the “Freaky” horror film and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”
Lisa Frankenstein (2024) is a Frankenstein hodgepodge of a bunch of 80s and 90s movies and horror movies. We have a little bit of the 80s film “Weird Science” in here, a little bit of the classic film “Frankenstein” in it, and a bit of “Encino Man.” Lisa Frankenstein (2024) did a great job of looking and feeling like the 80s. The set pieces are great, as are the music drops. For me, I’m a sucker for 80s films.
The charm of the music in the book is that it’s all super fun and strangely nostalgic for me. For a lot of people, the 1980s have become a nostalgic era, as reflected in many films and TV shows like Stranger Things. You also have a new generation of kids who love 80s style and music. Lisa Frankenstein (2024) even includes an actor from Stranger Things; strangely, no pun intended. It feels strangely meta as Joe Chrest plays a father in Lisa Frankenstein who is unaware and dumb. He plays a very similar role in Stranger Things as Ted Wheeler. He even dresses the same.
With my bias toward loving 80s movies aside, I think Lisa Frankenstein (2024) is still fun enough for the average moviegoer. The film isn’t long—an hour and 40 minutes. A lot of films nowadays have to be super long, so this one is an easy in-and-out type of movie. Lisa Frankenstein (2024) doesn’t take itself too seriously either, which is another plus for films nowadays. There is no shortage of thought-provoking and serious films nowadays. Which is good, but we need the silly ones as well. I talked about this in my “Anyone But You” review as well. But That does bring me to a problem with the film.
Lisa Frankenstein (2024) seems to not take itself seriously for the majority of the film. But seemingly, we are hit with these parts where we are supposed to feel sad or some sort of emotion. It’s hard to balance all of that with a film that throws logic out the window. I wish the film just decided to go out and just be silly the entire time. But it seems some parts of Lisa Frankenstein (2024) that tries to tell us something in a serious light, which is pretty hard to balance with the silliness. There are not a ton of these scenes, so it does not ruin the film, but they do stick out.
For example, the main character, Lisa, has her mother murdered in front of her. Sometimes the film wants us to feel bad for Lisa, and understandably so because of her mother getting murdered like this. It shows the effect of that trauma on Lisa. But there are some scenes where people joke about her mom getting killed. It’s so over the top, that it’s hard to take it seriously or even consider it in the same universe as us feeling bad for her.
It’s making me laugh just writing about it, but it’s so silly out over the top, that is. I mean, there’s a scene where a character says you don’t have to worry about that (regarding not having a mom) because yours was killed. It’s insane. But I’m sure that’s the point of it, as the 80s were very over-the-top.
The acting in Lisa Frankenstein (2024) is a plus. It seems that everyone in this film understood the 80s cliché and 80s dialect. I’m sure a lot of the actors had to watch a ton of ‘80s movies to get in the mood for this one. And you can tell that they had a fun time making it. This is always a good thing to see, and that usually translates to the viewer as well. There might’ve been a couple of improv scenes in there, as many of the montages seem to be spur-of-the-moment humor-type scenes. This is also something we see as very common in comedies.
As I mentioned before, the music in it plays a key part. We have our classic 80s sound drops. They’re not only helping us get in the mood for the universe, but they also pick the songs very well. A lot of films like to play nostalgia with older songs just for the heck of it. They seem to pick things that don’t have a real meaning in the scene. But at least with this film, it seems that most of the songs had a significant meaning in the scenes.
One thing I will say about this film is that it might do a lot better in the streaming world. The film itself isn’t super-budget, so you’re not missing a massive spectacle by not seeing it in theaters. But you can easily watch the film at home and still get a similar takeaway. I’m curious to see where it’ll land on streaming, as it is going to do well wherever it goes.
It has a pretty popular cast, and the direction by Zelda Williams is something I’m sure a lot of people will want to see. You also have the 80s theme going for it, which is still super popular. If it lands on Netflix, that would be a huge plus because they already have Stranger Things. Time will tell us which streaming service it’ll pop on.
My prediction is Prime Video, Shutter, or Netflix. We know you will be able to rent the film online soon as well, as a faster home video turnaround usually happens when a film in this budget range comes out. It will be in theaters for a month or two then shortly after you’ll be able to rent it on Prime video or stream it.
The film will also have a cult following eventually as many horror movies have. This will go hand-in-hand if it gets on a good streaming service. These kinds of lower-budget horror films seem to do very well over time in the home viewing world. The horror community also seems to treasure these kinds of fun movies. The actors will soon be known for these roles as time goes on. It’s only a matter of time until TikTok gets ahold of the movie, and it seems that many films gain popularity on social media before gaining popularity in the real world.
Maybe one day we’ll have a Lisa Frankenstein two or a spinoff. Horror movies seem to always want to have sequels. It’s hard to name a popular horror film that didn’t end up giving way to another sequel. The film does seem to have an ending that could be followed up! If anything I’d like to see the director, Zelda Williams do another 80’s style horror movie. These movies are always a fun time.
