In many femme horror circles, there’s never a day without the discussion of Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body. It’s a quintessential modern horror comedy exploring female sexuality in a subversive way; so subversive, in fact, that it bombed in 2009 due to poor reviews and severe mismarketing. Today, it’s hailed as something of a cult classic with iconic lines and imagery. It’s one of the most important movies of all time to me and its screenplay by Diablo Cody particularly stands out in that regard.
You can imagine my excitement when I heard that Cody was writing a new horror comedy. Directed by Zelda Williams in her directorial debut, Lisa Frankenstein stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse as an outcast and the dead Victorian boy she falls in love with (and inadvertently reanimates). Since October, this was easily one of my most anticipated movies of 2024 and I was simply enamored by the trailers and overall look of the movie. I was immensely excited, to say the least.
I’m safe to say I was right to be excited! This film is simply wonderful in its macabre humor and witty dialogue. Cody is an all-time favorite screenwriter and is particularly good at dark humor. She fleshes out her characters with witty, self-deprecating humor that stands out evidently. The scenes with Lisa’s stepsister are sure to be iconic. She stands out so evidently here and my theater was consistently chuckling during the film. While not as adult as her other works, she takes clear inspiration from films like Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice in its characters and story, but gives them a slightly raunchy twist and a more progressive feel. With all these positives, my only complaint here is that the film was not R-rated. I can feel Cody is a bit held back by the PG-13 rating but she finds really creative ways to push it. Most of my friends going to the movie didn’t know it was PG-13 as the more suggestive scenes pushed the rating to what I perceive as its limit. The rating wasn’t enough to seriously pull me from the film though. The direction is just as good, a surprisingly great debut for Williams. She’s great with timing and meshes so well with Cody. I hope she continues to make more comedies because I can tell she’s got a great career ahead of her.
A MAJOR standout for me was the hilarious performances. Every actor knew exactly what kind of movie they were making here. Kathryn Newton was as good as always; she can sometimes be a hit-or-miss for me but I found her character incredibly relatable and charismatic. It’s really one of the few movies where I left the theater expressing how she is just like me. Lisa Swallows is both sides of the coin represented by Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox in Jennifer’s Body without one overpowering the other. I also adored Cole Sprouse’s unnamed, mute Victorian corpse character (simply credited as “The Creature” via IMDb). I’m not really a fan of Sprouse’s post-Suite Life work but this restored my faith a tiny bit. He really embodies the whole Edward Scissorhands feel of the movie and has some great physical comedy.
I also really loved how progressive the film was for an ‘80s setting. It takes some really interesting ideas into account, particularly Lisa’s sexual identity. Lisa is far from your typical ‘80s movie nerdy prude, being pretty liberated sexually. There’s a particular sequence involving a vibrator that got a really loud chuckle out of me. It’s really awesome to see how independent she is as a character and how she grows even more throughout the film. I watched a film I thought to be similar before seeing this, 1985’s Weird Science. With a vaguely similar gender-swapped plot, I was interested in how it might potentially foil Lisa Frankenstein. Weird Science is the complete antithesis of Lisa, coming off as sexist and too sci-fi for my tastes. I think comparing the films is an interesting way to discuss Lisa Frankenstein and how it covers sexuality. In short, if you’re a bit of a weirdo with a love for horror comedies, definitely check out Lisa Frankenstein. It’s witty, clever and stylized in a way that fans of Jennifer’s Body and similar films will surely appreciate.
Nadia Arain is a junior Screen Cultures major who can spot a cult classic horror movie a mile away. They can be reached at [email protected].