LISA FRANKENSTEIN 2024 | RECAP | MOVIE REVIEW | ENDING EXPLAINED
The movie is set in the year 1989 in a rural American town where we see a young teenager called Lisa. She is suffering from a mental health crisis due to a traumatic incident that happened last year. Lisa used to live with her mom when one day a psycho intruded into her house and brutely killed her mom, in front of her. Lisa survived this episode by hiding in time but this episode left a mark on her mind.
Since then she has always been depressed and sad with the urge to commit suicide. Now she is living in another town with her dad Dale, who recently remarried a horrid and narcissistic woman named Janet. Janet had a daughter by the name of Taffy who was always sweet to Lisa as her real sister even though she was her stepsister. She used to cheer her up with beauty tips, school gossip, and sharing all her clothes with her. Taffy was really happy to share her life with her sister. But Lisa on the other hand preferred loneliness, she used to spend her time in a local bachelor's cemetery by reading stories to a boy's grave. This boy had died in the year 1837 after getting struck by lightning. The full name on his grave had vanished with only the last few letters resembling the word EIN. Lisa started calling him Frankenstein and she even offered her mom's necklace to him as it was making her morbid. She used to feel safe as well as peaceful in a graveyard which clearly states her state of mind.
In the intro, we see the back story of this Frank guy in the form of an animation. He had lost his parents when he was little, he grew up alone got educated, and learned piano. Soon he found a lead singer with whom he fell in love. Unfortunately, one day while he was walking home a lighting struck him and he died on the spot. His grief-sickens girlfriend buried him at the cemetery and moved on in life. Taffy was taking Lisa to a party and Lisa was hesitant. She gave her a beauty tip in the form of using her tanning bed to get a little bit of tan. As Lisa tried it she got electrocuted a little as the bed was faulty. Here Lisa says she has a crush on a guy named Michael Trent who is the editor of the school magazine.
At the party, Taffy's friends dragged her away while Lisa started wandering alone. A guy named Michael Trent approached her for small talk. Lisa used to write articles for the school's magazine and Michael was its editor. He was impressed by her style of writing while Lisa had a crush on him. Just then another girl Tamara offered a drink to these two which was alcoholic in nature. After drinking it Lisa became high for the first time and lost her balance. It was a pretty hard drink for her. While Taffy was busy scolding Tamara, Lisa's lab partner Doug took her to the upper floor room to do inappropriate things. Lisa stopped him and walked away from the party in her intoxicated state. While returning home she entered the cemetery and wished she would be with the boy. At the house, she broke the mirror in rage as she was pretty high.
The same night Lisa had a weird dream in which she was dressed like the bride of Frankenstein. The boy from the cemetery was with her and these two were living happily as husband and wife. The next morning in Lisa's room we saw a lot of horror movie drawings by her as it seemed she was a fan of these movies. Lisa's mom Janet was furious seeing the broken mirror and she scolded her like anything. Here her father too was disappointed in her as she came home drunk. As a punishment, he orders her to work on Saturdays to earn money to fix the mirror. Just then all of these guys watch the news on television about the lightning which had struck at the cemetery. Lisa was shocked to know this as she was there last night just moments before it happened.
Lisa was working part-time in a tailoring shop where we see Michael. He was here to dry clean his shirt as it had stains of drinks from last night. He was happy to see Lisa all well and apologized to her for Tamara's trick. Lisa was just happy to meet Michael here as her crush on him was increasing.
Finally, Lisa returned home late and rushed for a slice of pizza but it was empty. She was too hungry and tired to venture into Taffy's plan of a movie night with family at the nearby theater. Janet calls it a silly excuse as per, she was again making an excuse to stay alone. As they left, Lisa started watching the movie Day of the Dead when something knocked on her door. A zombie-like creature intrudes into her house which freaks her out. Like in the past, she again runs from it and starts to scream but this time nobody was there to help her. She threw Janet's collective chinaware to protect herself, but the zombie kept following her. While escaping through the window, she accidentally falls on the creature and a green liquid spills from it onto her. Her neighbor heard her screaming but didn't help. They thought she might be having an episode. With all the walking on the lawn, the sprinklers got activated and the water cleansed the creature. As Lisa rushed back in to call the police the creature had already pulled the plug on the telephone. Even though the zombie was stinky and missing some body parts, it was not harming her. It behaved nicely with Lisa which triggered a curiosity in her. She took it to her bedroom to hide and clean which is clearly a weird thing. The creature points at one particular drawing Lisa made. It turns out to be the same boy from the cemetery who somehow got resurrected from death. This boy is the Frankenstein of the movie. He hands over Lisa's necklace to her as proof.
When she asks why he was there, he signals it's due to her wish. Lisa had wished she would be with him but it was not like this. She wanted to be dead not the other way around. She quickly took him to the bathroom and asked him to clean himself. When he does that, he asks her to fix his missing body parts, but Lisa is helpless. She combed his hair to make him nice, it seemed she finally got the friend she needed. Just then the family is back from the movie and Jamet is furious seeing the mess. Lisa tries her best to control the situation but Janet yells at her. She was certain that, she did all this for attention and that she needed medical treatment at the asylum center. Lisa slept the night while crying and Frank heard all this talk. Lisa's cupboard would be his new home from now on.
The next morning he gave her a very provocative dress which Lisa was hesitant to try on. But she did it anyway. Lisa got her confidence back as she was the talk of the school for the day. Lots of guys started staring at her, especially Michael. As he approached her for casual small talk, Taffy intruded on him and shooed him away as she was protective of her sister. She asked Lisa to cover her for tonight as she had planned a sleepover. Apparently, Janet was going out of town for a conference and Dale was working late. Back at the house, Frank dropped a worm in Jannet's food in an act of anger. But Janet assumed this to be the preplan of Lisa and made up her mind to get rid of her. She canceled her trip and started scolding Lisa again when she returned home. Being a nurse and a mother, she had no emotions for poor Lisa. Frank, hearing all this took the matter into his own had, he attacked Janet with the sewing machine and killed her. Later he chopped her ear off and asked Lisa to stitch it to him. Lisa was not sad to see Janet die as she was mean to her. These two buried her body in the cemetery and later she stitched the ear. Frank drew the image of lighting bolt on her hand, implying by getting an electric shock the ear will start working.
Conveniently Lisa had a malfunctioning tanning machine that used to give shocks. As Frank used the bed, his ear healed, and started listening from the left year. His face too had fewer wrinkles. The next morning Lisa tries another bold attire with a splash of jokes. Taffy and Dale were impressed by her progress, even though they didn't know Janet's death. They thought she was out of town for a conference. At school, Lisa writes a seducing letter with a kiss to Doug and asks him to be at the lakeside by 4 PM. She lured him to the cemetery with the promise of doing inappropriate things. There Frank was ready with an axe. He chopped Doug's hand and once again these two duo buried another body.
Lisa had no remorse for Doug as she believed deserved it. She stitched the hand and used the tanning machine to perfect it. Frank turned into an attractive young man which flared the romantic feelings in Lisa. He showed her piano skills as back in the day he was an artist. Lisa happily sang a song for him as she was feeling extremely happy. It appears she was cured of her sadness and loneliness. Taffy and Dale started worrying after hearing no news from Janet for a day. They thought of the worst and called the police. Lisa was sure that she would be caught one way or the other so she decided to do one last thing before the obvious. She wanted to hook up with Michael.
The next day at the school everyone was freaked out as Doug was missing. The rumor has it he had been killed. Taffy returned home hearing all this and Lisa started looking for Michael who too was missing. Soon, the principal called Lisa to her cabin as Tamara had seen her dropping a love letter at Doug's locker. Lisa again lied here by saying Doug stud her up. Tamara objected to this by saying she lies like hell. She might have killed her mother and lied about that too. This ensures a fight between the ladies and Lisa walks out in anger. She now bunks the class to surprise Michael at his house and sleep with him as her only fear now was to die a virgin. On the road, Frank picked her up as he was driving Janet's car to dump it. How this dude from 1837 learned to drive a car in a few days is beyond me. Anyway at Michael's Lisa got the shock of her life. He was intimate with Taffy. Lisa stormed into the room and screamed at Taffy for stabbing her in the back. Taffy knew Lisa's crush at Michael yet she didn't control her impulses. Michael too expressed his no interest in Lisa which triggered her anger even more. Just then Frank stormed into the room with an axe and chopped Michael to pieces, leaving both Taffy and Lisa shocked.
Lisa scolds Franks and helps her traumatized sister. She took her to the car, apologized to her, and thanked her for being the real sister when everyone was just mean to her. She gave her mom's rosary as a token of gesture. As Lisa went after Frank with an Axe, Taffy ran from there in horror. Lisa wanted to finish Frank once and for all but instead, she fell in love with him and he too confessed his love for her. To do the intimate thing, the intimate part was missing but Frank had smartly chopped off Michael's. After stitching and tanning, Frank was ready to flood the garden. He goes down the knee with a ring. Later these two quickly finish the happy night as police were after them. Taffy had informed them. To be eternally together Taffy decides to die in the tanning machine. As Frank sets it to the highest setting it malfunctions and burns Lisa alive.
After a few months, Dale and Taffy visit Lisa's grave which had many flowers with the writing of Beloved Wife. Dale thought this might be the act of miscreants but Taffy was not sure. Later we see Frank reading a novel to Lisa who was alive with bandages. This means that in the afterlife Lisa and Frank were together and they were happy after all. With this, the movie ends. Lisa Frankenstein is an absurd movie dash of dark humor. This is neither a full comedy nor a horror or a crime thriller. The only, thing I liked about this movie is its costume design and artistic expression. The standout to me was Liza Soberano as Taffy. She killed it in every scene and hit the notes of heartfelt and funny perfectly. It's just a one-time watch movie. Hope you liked this video. Please subscribe to my channel and check out my blog. link in the description. Thank you for watching. Take care.
