Lisa Frankenstein And Jennifer's Body Take Place In The Same Shared Horror Universe
Much like a certain devious scientist reanimates a corpse in Mary Shelley's landmark 1818 sci-fi horror novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus," those who grew up loving "Jennifer's Body" transformed the 2009 film from a box office bomb into a cult classic. Now, 15 years after her initial venture into the sub-genre, "Jennifer's Body" scribe Diablo Cody has finally returned to the horror-comedy pool for "Lisa Frankenstein," an original '80s-set flick inspired by Shelley's literary classic.
There's no missing the parallels between "Jennifer's Body" and "Lisa Frankenstein," both of which are coming-of-age stories examining the hellish experience of being a girl in high school with plenty of laughs and gore to spare. In fact, Cody has gone ahead and proclaimed that the pair even share the same continuity. "I am just declaring that this movie takes place in the same universe [as 'Jennifer's Body']," she informed Deadline, speaking at the "Lisa Frankenstein" premiere. "I have decided that. I will not say that you'd see any overt references to that [in 'Lisa Frankenstein'] but I'm saying it."
Moreover, if the Oscar-winning screenwriter gets her way, this could only be the beginning of the greater Diablo Cody horror-verse. With people asking her left and right about the possibility of a "Jennifer's Body" reboot, Cody has thrown down the gauntlet herself, telling Deadline she hopes "Lisa Frankenstein" proves to be the "final push that I need to actually make it happen. It's hard to get things made these days."
Jennifer's Body may return from the grave again
A whole lot has and hasn't changed when it comes to the teen experience since the aughts, particularly when it comes to being a teenage girl. To quote /Film's "Mean Girls" movie musical review by BJ Colangelo (who should probably be writing this article instead of me, but I'll do my best in her absence), "The teenage landscape is not the way it was in 2004. Teenagers can still be awful and high school can still be hell, but the execution of that ferocity has evolved." This also makes now as good a time as any for Cody to re-imagine "Jennifer's Body" for Generation Alpha.
Understandably, the "Juno" scribe has been hesitant to get back in the horror-comedy saddle at all after the lashing "Jennifer's Body" got upon hitting theaters. "I was nervous to get back into that," she admitted to Deadline. "And then this magical thing happened the last few years where ['Jennifer's Body'] found an audience and people began to really appreciate it. And it gave me the confidence to say, 'You know what? I never lost my passion for that world and I want to do another one.' So, I'm here."
Cody may even have some ideas in mind for a "Jennifer's Body" reboot, so far as casting goes. The film's director, Karyn Kusama, only just oversaw and narrated a live reading of Cody's original "Jennifer's Body" script last year, with "Bottoms" star Rachel Sennott and "Yellowjackets" actor Ella Purnell assuming Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried's former roles as Jennifer and Needy, respectively (via IndieWire). One need look no further than her exquisite delivery of the line "Your parents are upper-middle-class" in Halina Reijn's Gen Z horror-satire "Bodies Bodies Bodies" for proof that Sennott, in particular, might just be the successor to Fox's throne we've been waiting for.
"Lisa Frankenstein" hits theaters on February 9, 2024.