Diablo Cody’s ’80s Horror Comedy Throwback – The Hollywood Reporter

Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton in ‘Lisa Frankenstein.’

Michele Okay. Quick

In case your thought of amusing riot is a high-school dreamboat being separated from his penis by an axe whereas treacly ‘80s basic “On the Wings of Love” soars on the soundtrack, then Lisa Frankenstein may be for you. As long as your body of reference doesn’t go way back to Edward Scissorhands. Diablo Cody’s screenplay a few maladjusted teen who finds a way of function by bonding with a reanimated corpse delivers sufficient humorous strains to make you wish to minimize it some slack for a minute. However Zelda Williams’ clunky route quickly stifles that good will as this retro-minded horror-comedy-romance lurches from scene to scene with out ever constructing a lot steam.

Focus is positioning the discharge as a Valentine’s Day date film for younger audiences who like a contact of graveyard humor and gore with their canoodling. Possibly they’ll get a kick out of its garish sweet colours, schlocky sensible results and its amusing genuflection at that altar of hazardous ‘80s self-care — the tanning mattress. To not point out a liberal sprinkling of the last decade’s energy ballads, synth-pop and post-punk hits.

However Lisa Frankenstein is a painful reminder that for each Nineteen Eighties horror comedy consecrated within the pop-culture pantheon — Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Beetlejuice and An American Werewolf in London, to call a number of — the dusty Blockbuster cabinets had been residence to numerous others that merely threaded collectively dumb jokes within the hope that their campy silliness may disguise the dearth of directorial command or narrative momentum. Anybody bear in mind Vamp?

A cool black and white animated title sequence that sits someplace between Edward Gorey and Kara Walker hints on the tragic backstory of the person behind the 1837 headstone that captures the romantic creativeness of 17-year-old outsider Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton). Understandably shaken up after witnessing a murderous residence invader hack up her mom, Lisa resists changing into a part of the brand new household her dad, Dale (Joe Chrest), has shaped by rapidly marrying psych nurse Janet (Carla Gugino). Not even the sympathetic coaxing of Lisa’s cheerleader stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano) appears to assist: “How can we Brady if we don’t bunch?”

Except for perky Taffy, who thinks “cerebral” means wheelchair-user, Lisa has no pals at college. However she experiences a second of hope when her secret crush, literary journal editor Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry), expresses admiration for her darkish poetry at a celebration. That dream fades immediately, nevertheless, when a spiked drink makes her lose management, fleeing from public humiliation to her cemetery sanctuary. As a storm brews and lightning strikes, Lisa turns to her favourite grave and mutters, “I want I used to be with you.”

What Lisa meant was lifeless and buried, however the anonymous Creature (Cole Sprouse), who rises from the grave and reveals up at her home the subsequent evening, obtained a unique message. After the obligatory freakout, Lisa figures out that the mute, mud-caked zombie is her fantasy Victorian lover, so she cleans him up, hides him in her closet and provides him a makeover. Mayhem ensues.

Having cooked up a viable sufficient state of affairs, Cody doesn’t fairly appear to know the right way to flesh it out past going more and more excessive, giving the comedy a nagging air of desperation. In contrast to within the messy however satisfying Jennifer’s Physique, the screenwriter doesn’t have a director with the constant aesthetic sensibility or agency grasp of tone that enabled Karyn Kusuma to glide over the weaknesses of a script extra attentive to zingy teen-speak one-liners than character growth.

One concern is that Lisa’s attachment to the Creature dawdles too lengthy earlier than abruptly shifting into romantic gear. As an alternative of giving us a window into no matter’s occurring in her head, we simply get the exterior transformation as her shuffling undead good friend liberates her internal Goth chick and she or he begins sashaying down the college corridors dressed as Helena Bonham Carter.

The film desires to be a celebration of the defiant weirdo rising above highschool conformity, but it surely’s much less subversive than gonzo goofball. That applies additionally to the carnage, when the devoted Creature begins eliminating anybody who upsets his sweetheart and utilizing their corpses to exchange his lacking physique elements. It begins with an ear and a hand, and you’ll guess the place it’s headed lengthy earlier than Lisa wields a needle and thread to connect one final essential appendage. And an excessive amount of of the comedy depends on the simple laughs of ‘80s cheese, like Lisa singing REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Combat This Feeling,” accompanied by the Creature on piano.

Newton, Sprouse and the pleasant Soberano are all extra interesting than the sloppy package deal and undercooked characters deserve. Cody has cited Bizarre Science as an inspiration, however neither the author nor director Williams has John Hughes’ reward for making his archetypal misfit teen protagonists relatable. The most important thriller is what the proficient Gugino is doing right here, principally enjoying a really shrill Amy Sedaris. Her scenes because the venomous Janet make you want they’d simply solid Sedaris, the reward that makes any comedy higher.