I Am Lisa review.
Another full moon means another Full Moon Feature. This cycle we look at 2020’s revenge werewolf flick…I Am Lisa.
Classic movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
I Am Lisa
Directed by Patrick Rea
Written by Eric Winkler
Starring Kristen Vaganos, Jennifer Seward, Manon Halliburton, Carmen Anello, Chris Bylsma, Cinnamon Schultz and Millie Milan
I Am Lisa Review
On paper the words “revenge werewolf movie” look great. In practice…it settles for pretty good. A heavy emphasis on the revenge part with an assist from some very light werewolf lore. As these Full Moon Features tend to focus on the wolf aspects of werewolf movies…I Am Lisa puts us into a bit of a bind. Put simply…this isn’t much of a werewolf movie. It uses some wolf concepts to allow its protagonist to exact her bloody revenge. Which…again…sounds great on paper.
Lisa (Kristen Vaganos) is beaten and left for dead after a run-in with the town’s corrupt sheriff. She’s dumped in the woods for the wolves to dispose of. Once she’s bitten, however, Lisa gains the power needed to launch a campaign of revenge on the people who harmed her. Power that she can’t fully control.
The revenge plot will feel familiar to anyone who has…watched a revenge movie. That’s where the wolf twist comes in. Lisa’s character growth comes with a curse attached to it. It’s an interesting idea. It remains one despite the movie’s inability to deliver the fun things we always look for in our werewolf movies. It does feel like a bit of a cheat though. Lisa doesn’t find the inner strength to survive and overcome her attackers. It’s incidental. That puts a dent in attempts to view I Am Lisa as a tale of empowerment. If that’s even what the story has in mind…they could have just thought “werewolf revenge story” sounded cool.
The small-town setting of I Am Lisa allows the story to create a believable rogues gallery for Lisa to face off with. The sheriff is an unchecked authority. Her son is her deputy. Her daughter is a local drug dealer. When the sheriff’s daughter Jessica (Carmen Anello) pushes Lisa too far…the bullied Lisa has no recourse but to file a complaint with her mother. That goes so well that she wakes up beaten in the woods.
The set-up is good enough to catapult the story into a fun second act…if it were able to fully transform itself into a werewolf movie. Unfortunately, budget constraints rear their ugly head once again. The bite gives Lisa several advantages she didn’t have beforehand. She heals quickly, has a heightened sense of smell, improved vision, and the strength to turn a person’s head completely around. There are some downsides too. Mostly the craving for blood and an inability to fully control herself.
I Am Lisa never gives us a full transformation. Eyes glow, nails grow…but we never reach full-on wolf mode. As a result, there is no pure wolf action to speak of. The werewolf parts of the story mostly serve to change the revenge story from a person exacting vengeance to a superhuman running roughshod over her enemies. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, for all its limitations, I Am Lisa is a pretty good movie. It just isn’t a good werewolf movie.
The revenge story fares much better. It gives us some proper villains to root against. Jessica’s complicit friends and family are hunted down one by one. Lisa is too powerful for almost all of them. This is pure revenge fantasy played out with a lycanthrope assist. There are some fun kills. The best involves a boiling fryer. Which…again…tells you how much the werewolf part fails to factor in.
Lisa has some support on her side in best friend Sam (Jennifer Seward) and Mary (Cinnamon Schultz) …the sheriff’s estranged sister. Mary is the one who cares for Lisa after her attack. Eventually she explains her new wolf-related situation as well. Sam is Lisa’s only true weakness (aside from losing herself to the wolf…something the effects budget leads you to believe won’t be happening). She’s a much easier target for the sheriff.
Interestingly, the sheriff is fully aware of the existence of werewolves. It makes one wonder why she directed Lisa to be dropped into the wolves’ den. I suppose we wouldn’t have a movie otherwise. There really aren’t any surprises with how the story of I Am Lisa plays out. Revenge thrillers tend to mostly go the same way. It’s disappointing that the werewolf portion of the plot couldn’t freshen things up more. They are simply a means to an end.
When the sheriff is finally defeated (with an assist from Mary) …Lisa makes the same odd choice to drop her into the woods for the wolves. It’s a bit flabbergasting given Lisa’s entire character arc. A fitting one given the sheriff’s own method of body disposal…but one that willfully ignores the possibility of a sheriff werewolf sequel. Which…also sounds great on paper.
The greatest asset that I Am Lisa has is the performance of Kristen Vaganos. She capably leads the movie turning from bullied bookworm to unstoppable force. Without her work I Am Lisa could have ended up in the unwatchable pile of low budget horror. She lifts it to a level strong enough to recommend. At least…for those who like revenge movies.
Scare Value
A revenge movie dressed in werewolf lore…I Am Lisa works better as the former than the latter. The wolf aspects feel like they could have been substituted for any random magical MacGuffin and it would have played out the same. Still…it’s an interesting and entertaining revenge movie. Any effort put into werewolf lore is always appreciated…but failing to let the wolf out is always a disappointment.
2.5/5
I Am Lisa Links
Streaming on Peacock and Screambox
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
