Director Yorgos Lanthimos’ “female Frankenstein” story Poor Things, which stars Emma Stone (Cruella), just made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and the reviews that are coming out of that screening are raves that are calling the film a weird, hilarious, raunchy awards contender. Poor Things has debuted on the Rotten Tomatoes site with a 100% fresh rating, and we have gathered some of the social media reactions together for you to check out right here:

POOR THINGS is a truly phenomenal adaptation that is both loyal & unrestrained. Emma Stone delivers an utterly enchanting career-best performance with Mark Ruffalo not far behind. This is Lanthimos operating at his very finest level of artistic expression #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/sCpYDRMgaT
— yasmine | ياسمين (@filmwithyas) September 1, 2023

POOR THINGS is the most magical odyssey of humanity, science, & liberation that anyone could think of—so it makes sense that genius yorgos lanthimos is behind it. emma stone is utterly riveting as bella, turning out THE performance her career has been building towards #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/slULb5fEHx
— lex briscuso (▰˘◡˘▰) (@nikonamerica) September 1, 2023

Yorgos Lanthimos is firing on all his weird and wonderful cylinders with his triumphant, oddball coming-of-age genre-pic Poor Things. A film with a deranged sene of humour but also endless layers of substance about the joy and struggles of being alive. Emma Stone delivers a… pic.twitter.com/fLjr60MHKY
— Luke Hearfield (@LukeHearfield) September 1, 2023

POOR THINGS is Yorgos Lanthimos at his very best! A brilliantly thought-provoking, spectacularly hilarious self-discovery journey elevated by a true technical masterclass & stupendous acting. Emma Stone is getting *all* the awards. Film of the year so far! #PoorThings #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/7AxmpjTqti
— Manuel São Bento (@msbreviews) September 1, 2023

#PoorThings Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone deliver their best film to date. It’s visually delicious and wildly entertaining. Emma is pitch-perfect and remarkable as Bella on a journey of liberation and equality. Obsessed with the awe-inspiring costume and production design. pic.twitter.com/Z7VY1dcYlq
— Jazz Tangcay (@jazzt) September 1, 2023

POOR THINGS is like the bizarro-world version of BARBIE, sending childlike Emma Stone on an R-rated journey to the real world, featuring incredible art design and even more fish-eye lens than a Hype Williams music video. Sure it’s a lot, but most movies aren’t enough!
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) September 1, 2023

Poor Things is… the raunchiest film of the decade?! 🤯🫣

Everyone remember how much of a stir Antichrist caused?! Poor Things is that x100! THE WORLD IS NOT READY.

Genius. Absolutely genius film. Loved it. Have so much to talk about. pic.twitter.com/deBxvEpnhH
— Alex B. (@firstshowing) September 1, 2023

#PoorThings is the best film of Yorgos Lanthimos’ career and already feels like an instant classic. It is also hysterically funny and the raunchiest movie you’re likely to see all year. https://t.co/N1XEXzTzfW
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) September 1, 2023

And now that the POOR THINGS embargo has lifted: You really have to go back to the glory days of Ken Russell to find something this robustly sexual and formally adventurous. An exhilarating odyssey, one that brings credit to all involved, especially the fearless Emma Stone. pic.twitter.com/41nR956yZk
— Joshua Rothkopf (@joshrothkopf) September 1, 2023

#Venezia80 Poor Things is so funny, perverse, unique, unapologetic, raunchy. A truly crazy & deliberate tour the force with a majestic Emma Stone & scene stealer Mark Ruffalo. All the cast is great.
A delicious masterpiece!! You won't believe what you're seeing.

☆☆☆☆ 1/2 pic.twitter.com/7YW0KSKMRN
— @holly (@holly_nis) September 1, 2023

#PoorThings: a twisted fairy-tale of the wonderful, the weird & the wholesome.
A heartfelt, layered coming-of-age tale on monsters & belonging. Celebrating otherness w/ perverse imagination, delightfully dark humour & immaculate visuals.
Stone is stunningly fearless.#Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/JJgmhtENOp
— Ren Geekness (@RenGeekness) September 1, 2023

Driven by #EmmaStone's mesmerizing performance and #YorgosLanthimos' confident direction, #PoorThings is a hilariously dark fairy tale oddity that should be a major awards player this fall. It's top-to-bottom terrific. #Venezia80 pic.twitter.com/X3SdilqwIF
— Bitesize Breakdown (@bitesizebreak) September 1, 2023

Scripted by Tony McNamara and based on a novel by Alasdair Gray (pick up a copy HERE), the film is described as being the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter. Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn, a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Stone is joined in the cast by Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home) as Dr. Godwin Baxter and Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers) as Duncan Wedderburn. Ramy Youssef (Ramy), Jerrod Carmichael (The Carmichael Show), Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Suzy Bemba (Kandisha), and Christopher Abbott (Possessor) are also in the cast.

Stone earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Lanthimos’s film The Favourite, and Poor Things brings them back together. In a Vogue interview, Lanthimos revealed that he has been wanting to make Poor Things for several years, going back to the days before his 2015 film The Lobster, and had been talking to Stone about the project since they were working on The Favourite together. Since wrapping on Poor Things, they have already collaborated on another film called And.

When we first heard about Poor Things, all we knew about the story was that it was called a “female Frankenstein” story because after drowning herself to escape her abusive husband, Bella’s brain is replaced by that of her unborn child.

What do you think of the first reviews of and reactions to Poor Things? Are you looking forward to seeing this movie when it reaches theatres on December 8th? Let us know by leaving a comment below.