Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings! Today’s post is going to be a fun and spoiler-filled review of Lisa Frankenstein, the newest film written by Diablo Cody, and the directorial debut of Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin Williams). So, please let this be your warning if you have yet to see the film and do not want the plot spoiled for you. I just saw this film as part of my Valentine’s celebration with my husband, and I adored it!
I had known I wanted to see this film from the time it was announced, given I love Diablo Cody’s work, and Jennifer’s Body has been a favorite since it came out (yes I loved it even in 2009). This was definitely my type of movie given I knew that it would be a satire of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is a book I have adored forever, and Bride of Frankenstein is one of my favorite films (best Universal Horror in my opinion). I also count Young Frankenstein as one of my favorite satirical films ever, so my expectations for Lisa Frankenstein were very high. The title of this film is also very cute in that it not only references Frankenstein but also the ‘Lisa Frank’ company!
I was very impressed with the film we got! The film is about Lisa Swallows, a senior in high school who was moved to a new town and school when her father remarried. She has a tragic past having been in the house when her mother was brutally murdered, which left her mute for a time, but she has healed quite a bit. In the opening of the film, we learn that her step-sister, Taffy, is pushing Lisa to attend a party with her, as Lisa’s therapist wants her to socialize more. So, Lisa tries out Taffy’s new tanning bed (which comes to be an important part of the film) as Taffy suggested and gets electrocuted. Luckily, she is not seriously hurt and the girls go to the party, which is a traditional 80s house party, as the film is set in 1989.
Lisa confessed to Taffy on the ride to the party that she had a crush on Michael Trent, the editor of the school’s Literature Magazine. Lisa also explains that she has been spending a lot of time in the old abandoned cemetery in the town, known as Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, which apparently houses young men who were never married. Lisa has a favorite grave that she likes to visit, which was a young man who had a bust atop his headstone, so she knows what he looked like in life. Lisa seems certainly more attuned to the dead than the living!
At the party, Lisa meets Michael Trent, who is complimentary about her poetry, but seems not to see her as a prospective girlfriend. Lisa is drugged when she is persuaded to drink something a mean girl handed to her, it is alluded to by Michael that it was PCP she has drunk. The film takes a dark turn when Lisa is nearly raped by her lab partner, but this ends up working itself out later in the film. Luckily Lisa gets away and eventually finds her way home.
The storm that happened that night caused lightning to strike the headstone of her favorite grave! As one would expect given the title, the young man whose grave it was rises and comes to find Lisa, who had been talking about wanting to be with him. She explains that she wanted to be dead, but quickly figured out a way to help the Creature out, first by having him shower.
Now, I should explain that two things have been established about Lisa before the Creature appears and they have a hilarious slapstick battle before she realizes who he is. First, we see that Taffy’s mom, Lisa’s step-mother is an atrocious woman who thinks she is very empathic because she is a nurse in a psych ward but treats Lisa like garbage, all because she is a weird girl instead of a perfect cheerleader like Taffy. Second, we learn Lisa works as a seamstress at a dry cleaner when she is not in school. Both of these provide a good set-up for later. There was also a great dream sequence that foreshadowed the relationship with the Creature, which had references to Bride of Frankenstein with the hair, which made me overjoyed!
It is quickly seen that the Creature has feelings for Lisa and he truly helps her out by picking out her outfits for school and protecting her. This is how her horrid stepmother, Janet (played by the incredible Carla Gugino) is killed! I want to note there is a great Rocky Horror reference “dammit Janet” before this, which added to my enjoyment of the scene. This is also where we get the moment from the trailer with the line “Not before we bury the body.” Afterward, Lisa sewed Janet’s ear onto the Creature, but as he couldn’t hear, so she decided they should use the tanning bed to reanimate his flesh, which worked!
Next, they needed to find him a hand, so Lisa lured the lab partner who had attempted to assault her to the cemetery and they cut off his hand before killing him. This gives the Creature a hand and his next tanning bed trip has him looking nearly alive again! Stuff begins to crumble when Lisa’s father and Taffy realize that Janet is not out of town, as they thought because she was not in her hotel. Lisa begins to freak out about not wanting to die a virgin, which leads to much hilarity with a vibrator and her asking if the Creature had died a virgin when he passed in 1837. He admitted he hadn’t, non-verbally as he communicates through body language throughout all of the film. This is where I see two missed opportunities, first, they could have made the Creature bisexual, by having him in love with Lisa, but admit he’d been with another man before his death. Second, they should have had him die in 1822, the year Percy Shelley died, as Lisa is portrayed as a version of Mary Shelley in the film! Even her horrible stepmother and well-intentioned stepsister are inspired by Mary’s life, as when Mary ran away with Percy, her stepsister came to live with them! Mary Shelley also famously never knew her mother, as she died giving birth to Mary, only knowing her by visiting her grave and reading her books (Mary Wollstonecraft was also a writer)!
Now that everything is on a downward spiral, things get zany, the Creature helps Lisa get to Michael Trent’s house, as she is determined to lose her virginity to him. Of course, as I had sensed early on, Michael is not interested in her, and in fact, is having a relationship with Taffy! Lisa is betrayed and the Creature comes in to kill Michael, making sure to cut off something very important in the process!
This leads to a scene in the cemetery where they confess their love, Lisa and the Creature that is, and she realizes she needs to attach one final body part before they can consummate their love. After this, there is a very sweet sex scene, but this is the final point where I thought there was a missed opportunity. I think the sex scene should have been in the graveyard, as there is a famous rumor that Mary Shelley lost her virginity to Percy on her mother’s grave! This would have brought stuff full circle. However, I still liked it very much! After this scene, Lisa had the Creature electrocute her in the tanning bed, in order to fake her death as we learn (but I already guessed as much).
The final two scenes are Lisa’s father and Taffy visiting Lisa’s grave, where Taffy notices someone had carved ‘Beloved Wife’ obviously the Creature, as that is how he views Lisa. Then the last scene is of the Creature finally speaking, reading a poem to Lisa who is badly bandaged up but still alive! In the scene, I suspect the poem he is reading is Percy Shelley, as it references a beloved Mary many times, but I could not place the exact poem. I also want to note that I learned the reason he is wearing rainbow suspenders in the scene is a reference to Mork from Mork and Mindy to honor Robin Williams, which is a very sweet touch! When I looked up that information online I read that according to IMDb, this film is in the same universe as Jennifer’s Body, which makes me excited to see what Diablo Cody does next!
I hope you have enjoyed this very long glowing review of Lisa Frankenstein. Have you seen the film? Did you pick up on all the references I mentioned? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The picture at the top of the post is me in front of the movie poster in the theater.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Watching
- Lisa Frankenstein (2024)