A fun pastiche with spare parts: Lisa Frankenstein (2024)
Diablo Cody has returned with a teenage girl horror film that only somewhat echoes 2009's Jennifer's Body . Lisa Frankenstein doesn't come across quite as on the nose, and considerably lighter than her earlier opus. My suspicion is that much of that is owing to the PG rating of the current film which doesn't quite allow for unbridled body horror and more intense sex scenes. It also, more importantly, hobbles character depth and richness. That doesn't stop Lisa from being enjoyed just on her own considerable merits. The film knows very much the type of film it is and the types of films it is beholden to and the parts of those films it repurposes to its advantage. The principle homage is vintage Tim Burton, beginning with the animated title sequence and on down through the neighborhood Lisa lives in and of course, the cemetery from which the Creature of her heart rises from the dead...and to which a couple of characters are dispatched. But/and there are nods to Bet...