The new '80s-set horror comedy film Lisa Frankenstein follows a teenage girl who reanimates a Victorian-era corpse. It is inspired by beloved classics of that era such as Weird Science and Beetlejuice.
Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse lead the cast of the film which also includes Liza Soberano, Carla Gugino, Henry Eikenberry, and Joe Chrest. Zelda Williams directed the film in her feature-length debut while Oscar-winning writer Diablo Cody penned the screenplay.
Leading up to its release, the highly-anticipated movie has been compared to various '80s films, most notably the aforementioned Weird Science since they both explore similar concepts.
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The Similarities Between Lisa Frankenstein and Weird Science
Several reviews for Lisa Frankenstein have called the new film this generation's Weird Science due to the similarities in their Frankenstein-type concept.
For example, a review from USA Today called it "a playful and bloody teen-movie reimagining" of the classic Mary Shelley tale Frankenstein "with Tim Burton movies and Weird Science among its many influences."
After all, the '80s classic deals with two high school teenage boys who designed their ideal woman on their computer and accidentally brought her to life.
Meanwhile, the new film explores the same idea but with gender-flipped since it's a teenage girl who brings the man of her dreams to life by reanimating a Victorian-era corpse.
Diablo Cody Explains Her Idea to Flip the Trope in Lisa Frankenstein
In an interview with Empire Magazine, writer Diablo Cody acknowledged the Weird Science inspiration for Lisa Frankenstein and explained why she is flipping the trope in the new film.
"It was funny to me how the whole Frankenstein narrative was co-opted in the ‘80s by movies like Weird Science where they were like, ‘What if we could create the perfect woman?’" she said.
"You see that theme across genres, and I felt like nobody was making a ‘building a man’ movie except The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I love, and which we reference in the film."
Cody added, "I thought: ‘What if a teenage girl had the ultimate sensitive guy who can’t talk? What would that look like and how would we animate him?’ Then once I thought of [a faulty] tanning bed, we were off to the races."
If you believe that the new film is this generation's Weird Science, you are definitely not wrong since the creative team behind Lisa Frankenstein looked at the '80s classic as its inspiration and gave a fresh spin on the concept.
Lisa Frankenstein is set to arrive in North American theaters this Friday.
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