Pretty. Horrifying.

Diablo Cody doesn’t get as much credit as she deserves. She got her big break with Juno, a film she wrote that then went on to make $232.6 Mil against an absolutely tiny $7.5 Mil budget. It’s the kind of film that doesn’t tend to get made at this point, a fun little indie comedy that somehow catches the zeitgeist and makes all the money ever. The film not only launched Cody’s career but also cemented the careers of director Jason Reitman and stars Ellen (now Elliot) Page and Michael Cera. But while those members of the team went on to have bigger and brighter careers after Juno, Diablo Cody faced something else: backlash.

Juno is a fun, trifle of a film, twee and fun, tapping into the same kind of energy as mumblecore comedies and Wes Anderson films. But it also deals with issues like abortion, teen pregnancy, and marriage troubles. It has a decidedly light hand about subjects, finding a way to mine comedy from what should be dramatic moments, but it also became a lightning rod for controversy, and since Cody wrote it, she was thrust into the spotlight on these issues. Couple that with her being a woman, and the alt-right trolls simply hating her for that reason along with everything else, and it felt like Juno was both her big break and the start of the troubles for her.

The writer went on to script other films, like Jennifer’s Body (which is an underrated horror classic) and Young Adult (which was a critical success but not really a financial one), before eventually taking a break from Hollywood for over half a decade. Her return, though, was marked by a very Diablo Cody production: a loose reimagining of Frankenstein from the perspective of a lovelorn teenage girl. It’s weird, and strange, and dayglow odd, written by Cody and directed by Zelda Williams. It was the perfect kind of project to tap into Cody’s sensibilities.

And it died at the Box Office. In fairness to the film, the post-COVID Box Office has been very fickle, with audiences wanting new things to watch instead of the same old franchises, while also wanting things that aren’t too different or too weird. Lisa Frankenstein was hobbled out the gate by being both very weird and, due to its name (as well as getting produced by Universal Pictures), association with the Universal MonstersThis franchise, started off with Dracula and Frankenstein in 1931, was a powerhouse of horror cinema for close to two decades, with many of the creatures continuing on in one-off movies years later. franchise. Despite critical praise for the film it was a flop upon release, only bringing in $9.9 Mil against its $13 Mil budget. Even home sales weren’t going to save this movie.

So what happened? Why, exactly, did it flop? Well, the movie is strange, and while I keep using that term, it’s very true. The film is this weird pastiche of horror and comedy and romance, all blended together with a 1980s dayglow vibe, Evil DeadStarted as a horror cheapie to get the foot in the door for three aspiring filmmakers -- Raimi, Tappert, and Campbell -- Evil Dead grew to have a life of its own, as well as launching the "splatstick" genre of horror-comedy. levels of gore, and the dark humor of Heathers. It’s a movie that is, in short, not for everyone. Universal advertised it as more of a comedy, with similar sensibilities to films like The Addams Family, which isn’t really accurate. It’s more dark and twisted, but also sillier, like if you turned a CW teen romance into a funny slasher flick. I’m not sure anyone knew what to make of this movie, and so audiences stayed away. I liked the movie, but then I do have warped sensibilities. The mix of horror and humor worked for me but it very well might not have for many.

The film focuses on Lisa (Kathryn Newton, who also shows up in another recent Universal reinvention, Abigail), the weird girl in school who doesn’t fit in. Her father, Dale (Joe Chrest), recently married Janet (Carla Gugino), and there’s friction in the family. Janet is a quintessential 1980s power wife, and she has a daughter, Taffy (Liza Soberano), who is the apple of her eye. Lisa and Janet don’t get along because Janet doesn’t understand Lisa and, really, doesn’t want to. She’ll dote on Taffy but abuse Lisa, acting every part of the evil stepmother even as Dale is oblivious to what’s going on around him.

To get away, Lisa hangs out, from time to time, in the local cemetery where a lovelorn musician (Cole Sprouse) was once buried. Sad over her life, and simply wanting some love, she wishes that the musician were alive and there with her and, wouldn’t you know it, soon enough he rises from the grave to be with her. He is, though, a rotting corpse, which makes things difficult for the two of them. Using a shorted out tanning bed, though, Lisa is able to help heal the Creature a little, and over time he finds some semblance of his former humanity. However, to get pieces needed to repair his body and restore him, well, she needs those body parts from others. Ears and tongues and more. And the only way to get those bits is to kill. So a bit of petty high school revenge turns into a mild killing spree. Does this make Lisa and the Creature evil, or are they just getting justice on those that, over the years, have wronged our heroine? Whatever it is, they’ll leave a blood path in their wake before everything is done.

In style and substance, Lisa Frankenstein really doesn’t feel like a Universal Monsters version of Heathers meets Edward Scissorhands. If that sounds like a lot of influences on the film, well, it is. It’s a film set in the 1980s, with cookie-cutter houses and perfect fashions, but with dark secrets hiding beneath the surface. It has an outcast, goth girl meeting the monster of her dreams, and then going off and killing with him. It’s funny and silly and romantic and also bloody with a high body count. It’s many different things all at once, and only a particular kind of movie watcher is going to appreciate that.

I did, of course, and I found the off-beat movie to be quite charming. I really like the leads, with Newton playing the strange teen very well and Sprouse her quiet (because he lacks a tongue for a good portion of the film) love interest. Together they make an engaging and charismatic pair, even as the blood and bodies start piling up around them. Again, like Heathers, except in this case you don’t actually hate the male half of the duo because, well, he’s a monster who kills to protect his person, not someone that kills simply for the sake of it.

And the film does work to justify the murders these two end up committing. Lisa only has the Creature target people that have wronged her in some way, like her abusive step-mother, or a classmate that tried to rape her. She never goes out of her way to kill good people, which is the kind of grey area thinking that a good horror movie delves into. You have to be able to get on board with a film where the heroine and her monster decide killing people is okay in certain instances. If you can do that you’ll like the central duo.

The film is quite funny, having a very silly, good time with its setup. It creates a monster movie playing in the style of Universal films and then has our mad heroine revive him over and over via the power of a tanning bed. The humor is right there, up front, showing that the movie knows exactly what it is. It doesn’t try to be anything more than that, a silly romantic comedy monster slasher. Saying it out loud makes it sound weird and, well, it is. But it’s the right kind of weird to entertain the right kind of viewer on a cold and scary night.