Lisa Frankenstein · reception & legacy

2024 · Zelda Williams

How Lisa Frankenstein has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Opened Valentine's weekend 2024 to shrugging critics and soft box office, then almost immediately picked up the 'instant cult classic' tag — fans invoked Jennifer's Body's redemption arc and vowed not to wait fifteen years this time.

What's debated

The standing debate is critics-vs-fans: is it a tonally wobbly misfire, or exactly the kind of goth-girl horror-comedy that critics always undervalue on arrival?

Its footprint

Kathryn Newton's back-combed goth makeover became instant Halloween-costume and moodboard material, and the film doubles as canon fuel: Diablo Cody declared it shares a universe with Jennifer's Body, which fans treat as an official 'Diablo Cody-verse'.

Where it stands

A textbook Letterboxd-era cult object — modestly reviewed, fiercely beloved, and adopted as a comfort watch by the same crowd that canonised Jennifer's Body.

★ Did you know? At the premiere, writer Diablo Cody declared that Lisa Frankenstein takes place in the same universe as her Jennifer's Body — with no overt on-screen references, just her word.

Named by the director

Influences Zelda Williams has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) — Zelda Williams cited it as a touchstone for the film's pastel-suburbia-meets-gothic-outsider aesthetic.
Death Becomes Her (1992) — Williams named it as an influence on the film's campy, macabre comic tone.
Day of the Dead (1985) — Williams cited Romero's film as an influence on her approach to the undead.
Young Frankenstein (1974) — Williams said her guiding question was imagining what a Gene Wilder–Madeline Kahn movie of this story would look like now.