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Weird horror romance: “Lisa Frankenstein”
Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) has brought to life a Victorian bachelor who goes over the top. photo
© Michele K. Short/Universal Pictures/dpa
Since “Poor Things” at the latest, the Frankenstein theme has returned to the screen. “Lisa Frankenstein” also follows the popular motif, but gives it its own twist.
There are things that only fit together at second glance: chocolate and salt, for example, or heavy metal and orchestra. This formula also applies to horror and the 80s. In “Lisa Frankenstein” ax murderers, undead and severed body parts meet neon colors, aerobics and the pounding beats of the drum machine.
The story about Lisa (Kathryn Newton) and the undead man (Cole Sprouse) who is madly in love with her was written by Diablo Cody. The Oscar-winning screenwriter is already known from film classics such as “Juno” and “Jennifer’s Body”. Similar to the cult horror comedy, “Lisa Frankenstein” mixes high school drama with bloody revenge fantasies and Cody’s characteristically weird humor – but without becoming too brutal or explicit.
High school drama with bloody revenge fantasies
She tells the emancipation story of a young woman who lives in seclusion in her father’s new family after the violent death of her mother. She prefers to spend her time in the cemetery and has a crush on a Victorian bachelor whose corpse she accidentally brings to life one stormy night. He is head over heels in love and tries to convince her despite his rotten body and the many worms that keep coming out of his mouth.
He slowly succeeds in this by gradually slaughtering the people who have wronged Lisa. A few parts of his body fall off, which Lisa lovingly sews onto him. After several visits to the solarium, the undead romantic looks pretty good again. What’s interesting is that his rotten tongue is not replaced at any point in the film, so that – apart from the carnage – the actually very gentle creature can only make itself understood through grunts, moans and unusual gestures.
An undead romantic
This is practical both for actor Cole Sprouse (“Hotel Zack & Cody”, “Riverdale”), who hardly has to remember any text, and for film character Lisa, who finally has someone who just listens to her. Admittedly, the strategy of killing everyone who stands in your way is questionable. However, Lisa blossoms more and more with each murder, tries out unusual outfits à la Cindy Lauper and finds more and more herself.
“You live in a world where death is not permanent,” said director Zelda Williams in an interview. She doesn’t like Morden either, “but in this fantasy version of our world, Lisa becomes the best version of herself, in a very fearless and outrageous way. I always like that in young women.” It is the first long-term feature film by the young director, who came into contact with the film world early on through her father Robin Williams (“The Dead Poets Society”, “Insomnia”).
It’s not just the direction and script that are in female hands. The film music comes from Isabella Summers, who is known, among other things, as a founding member of the indie band “Florance and the Machine”. Paula Huidobro took responsibility for the camera. Appropriate, as the literary source of the influential Frankenstein horror novel comes from none other than Mary Shelley – a 21-year-old young author at the time.