A Gamble That Didn’t Pay Off
Some movies take risks and create something fresh. Others take risks and fall flat. Lisa Frankenstein does the latter. It had potential—there was room for a fun, offbeat take on the undead romance genre, something along the lines of Warm Bodies but with a unique edge. Unfortunately, that’s not what we got.
The film tries to be quirky, edgy, and different, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But when a movie plays by its own rules, those rules still have to make sense within the world it creates. Here, they don’t. The story feels unfocused, the characters lack depth, and instead of being an entertaining dark comedy, it ends up feeling like a messy, style-over-substance attempt at weirdness.
To its credit, there are some funny one-liners and a few visually creative moments, but that’s about it. The humor is hit-or-miss, and most of the jokes don’t land well enough to make up for the film’s lack of direction. The tone jumps around too much—sometimes it wants to be a horror-comedy, other times a romance, and at times it feels like it’s not sure what it wants to be at all.
And that’s the biggest issue: it never fully commits to anything. Lisa Frankenstein had the opportunity to be something fun and original, but instead, it tries too hard to be “different” without giving the audience a reason to care.
In the end, the most memorable thing about this movie is how bad it was. It’s a gamble that didn’t pay off, and while some might enjoy its offbeat humor and aesthetic, for most, it’s going to be a forgettable—and frustrating—experience.
