Lisa Frankenstein (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray]

Director: Zelda Williams

Cast: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano

Release Date: April 9, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

A coming of RAGE love story from acclaimed writer Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) about a misunderstood teenager and her high school crush, who happens to be a handsome corpse. After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness…and a few missing body parts along the way.

Please Note: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

MOVIE REVIEW:

‘Lisa Frankenstein’ tells the electrifying tale of Lisa, a young woman who after being traumatized by witnessing the brutal murder of her mother is trying to start over in a new town, living with her father and her new step-mother and step-sister and perfectly content to be an outsider. But when a random wish without any substance behind it causes the corpse of a long dead young man to arise from the local abandoned cemetery where Lisa spends her time during a freak storm and show up at her home, she eventually ends up embracing the new friendship with the undead boy. Unfortunately, when things start to get out of hand and bodies start to pile up, she must decide what’s really important to her, and where she truly belongs; not to mention with whom.

Directed by Zelda Williams from a screenplay written by Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body, Juno), Williams does a marvelous job at the helm of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ which marks her feature length directorial debut, nicely guiding this darkly twisted and amusing tale along with a unique sense of humor and style. The film’s cast includes Kathryn Newton (Freaky), Cole Sprouse (TV’s Riverdale), Liza Soberano (TV’s Forevermore), Henry Eikenberry (TV’s Euphoria), Joe Chrest (Killers of the Flower Moon), and Carla Gugino (TV’s The Fall of the House of Usher) along with more who each offer decent or at the very least fitting performances in their roles.

‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is a fun, twisted and darkly comedic coming of age story that takes viewers back to the colorful world of the 1980’s with its big hair, bright colors and plastic earrings. Then it adds a bit of bloody chaos and a smitten zombie into the mix and things only get crazier by the moment from there. Taking things to some surprisingly dark and violent places for a PG-13 film to say the least, with everything from putrid tears to dismemberments and plenty of other wild moments occurring once things start to get moving, and while it’s certainly no gore fest and most of the direct violence happens off screen, many viewers will likely still be somewhat surprised by just how far it goes nonetheless. The film is insanely colorful in addition, with countless elements within screaming the 1980’s down to the bright pink house the family lives in and the attention to detail in properly capturing the era is quite impressive in its own right and only helps to excel the fun offered from this already immensely enjoyable film.

Director Zelda Williams does a tremendous job guiding along ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ which serves as her feature length directorial debut and her capable work at the helm is only tremendously boosted by a clever script from Diablo Cody and a solid cast led by Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse who both do a great job with their roles. It’s an amusingly dark and twisted horror comedy that repeatedly finds clever ways to keep things exciting and engaging throughout and this one is definitely not to be missed if you’re a genre fan that appreciates a horror comedy done right and with something original to offer.

OVERALL:

‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is a beautifully crafted, darkly hilarious and incredibly ‘80s tale of one young woman’s journey to find where she belongs in the world against all odds. It utilizes some fairly generic ideas and then makes them very much its own in order to take viewers on a surprisingly twisty and clever adventure that any horror comedy fan won’t want to miss out on. ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ is highly recommended, especially for anyone that appreciates a well-made horror comedy with plenty of clever and thrilling ideas utilized splendidly throughout, along with anyone that’s a fan of the key cast or notable screenwriter Diablo Cody who should all find plenty to love within. It’s a dark, funny and twisted horror comedy that’s a pleasantly rewarding surprise and well worth renting whenever you have the chance if you’re already even moderately intrigued by it.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic altogether and provides a clean, sharp and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that holds up without any trouble and never sees any issues or encoding problems arising along the way. Detail and clarity is impressive throughout, with everything from character specifics (both dead and undead) along with the vibrantly colored ‘80s backgrounds, environments and everything else appearing sharp and gorgeous. Bright, vivid colors shine every step of the way and are further boosted by deep, rich black levels. Overall, this is a great high definition video presentation that looks tremendous throughout and should have fans and first time viewers very satisfied.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack is certainly no disappointment and offers a crisp, clean and hard hitting audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly utilizes all five available channels in order to send the catchy (and familiar) music, in addition to some action, vehicle and nature effects throughout the various speakers at every fitting opportunity, while never resulting in any dialogue or other audio elements that may be occurring simultaneously becoming distorted or rendered problematic in the process. Overall, this is a very nice and fully capable 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that holds up every step of the way without any issues.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ features a collection of entertaining extras that fans of the film should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Director Zelda Williams’, in addition to some ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 3 minutes in length altogether) and a ‘Gag Reel’ (running approximately 2 minutes). We are also treated to some brief Behind the Scenes Featurettes that feature interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The included Featurettes are ‘An Electric Connection’ (running approximately 5 minutes), ‘Resurrecting the 1980’s’ (approximately 4 minutes) and ‘A Dark Comedy Duo’ (4 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘Lisa Frankenstein: Collector’s Edition’ Arrives on Blu-ray & DVD April 9, 2024 & is Now Available on Digital from Focus Features & Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

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You can purchase your copy of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ Blu-ray on Amazon HERE!

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