Being a teenage girl is already rough. But it gets rougher if you aren’t like the other girls and tend to be more into books than beauty, and more into graveyards than going steady. However, if you combine all of these things with the fact that you had to move to a new town after your mom is murdered and your dad quickly remarries, well then your life might just be the worst. And this is the life we find Lisa Swallows living as she enters her senior year of high school in a new town, at a new school, with a new family. This premise sets the stage for Diablo Cody’s newest film, Lisa Frankenstein which is directed by Zelda Williams.
Buy Lisa Frankenstein Blu-rayWhile Lisa (Kathryn Newton) is trying to deal with her grief, her new step-sister, Taffy (Liza Soberano), is trying to bring Lisa into her circle of popularity in high school. But instead of crushing on boys who play basketball and football, Lisa is more interested in Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry), the editor of the high school literary journal. However, one night after a party that goes awry for Lisa in a number of ways, she tries to head home through Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, a place where she spends her time reading and talking to the grave of an unmarried Victorian man named Frankenstein. But as she takes this shortcut home a storm hits.
The next day Lisa learns of the destruction of her favorite grave, and is thrown into sorrow until an unexpected visitor, the Creature (Cole Sprouse), arrives to find the love who has visited him regularly. And while the Creature starts as a shell of the man he once was, through defending Lisa and some exchanges of electricity, both he and Lisa begin to evolve.
I really adore this film. The film an allegory about grief and what happens when the grieving are surrounded by those who don’t make space for their grief. But the film also captures how life and death everything feels as a teenager. This fantastic tale really resonated with me and captured how exaggerated things feel when you are a hormonally changing teenage girl. Cody’s characters are relatable and easily identifiable but are not caricatures. Lisa Frankenstein is fun, funny, and a very easy watch. (Except for maybe some of the gore.) I could easily see this film becoming a cult classic like Cody’s other films.
And now Lisa Frankenstein is coming to Blu-ray. The release not only includes the film, but some fantastic bonus features as well including deleted scenes, commentary tracks, a gag reel, a too-short behind-the-scenes featurettes. While I don’t always enjoys all bonus features on these types of releases, these are worth the time and feel very intentional and not like afterthoughts. So owning a copy for yourself is definitely worth it.
