Repo! The Genetic Opera
REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
Rated R
Features:
From Stage to Screen Featurette
Audio Commentary with Director Darren Lynn Bousman and Actors Bill Moseley, Alexa Vega and Ogre
Audio Commentary with Director Darren Lynn Bousman, Co-Creators Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich and Music
Producer Joseph Bishara
Legal Assassin Featurette
Theatrical Trailer
Running Time: 97 minutes
Let me just start by saying that
Repo! The Genetic Opera isn’t for everybody. In fact, if you go by some of the other reviews that have been written, you would think this was the worst film to ever make it to celluloid. This is the kind of movie you will either completely love and become obsessed with or hate to the point of wishing to sue the film’s creators for the 97 minutes of your life back. Fortunately for me, this movie is something that fits into my warped sense of enjoyment. I have heard it has started to become a bit of a cult classic a la
Rocky Horror with fans dressing up as characters and performing the piece alongside the film as it plays.
The film is set in the future at a time when organ failure becomes rampant. A company called GeneCo leases organs to people who can’t afford the transplants, but should you miss a payment, the Repo man is sent to reclaim the organs at the cost of your life. This is all completely legal at this time in the future. There are a couple of interwoven storylines here that get a little muddled only because of the budgetary restraints given the filmmakers by Lionsgate as they never wanted the movie to come out. The film handles these storylines through live action we see on the screen and comic book animations to tell the parts that weren’t able to be filmed because of these budget limitations. I will try and break them down into something simple as they all resolve themselves in the films final scene.
The first character we meet in the film is the Graverobber (newcomer and play creator Terence Zdunich who steals the scene every time he is on the screen). He introduces us to a drug called Zydrate that we learn is harvested from the brain of corpses and he sells it on the black market to people who are in pain post surgery. He also tells us about the story of the Repo Man and we meet Nathan Wallace (expertly played by TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Anthony Stewart Head) as he is out making a heart repossession.
When Nathan is not out recollecting organs, he is taking care of his daughter Shilo, who we learn has a blood disease that keeps her from going outside. Alexa Vega brings this role to life and displays an ability to hold her own singing against the likes of Head, Sorvino and opera star Sarah Brightman. GeneCo founder Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) is diagnosed with a terminal disease and has to decide who to leave the company to even though his three offspring feel they deserve it. His three children: the angry and violent Luigi (Bill Moseley), Pavi (Ogre from Skinny Puppy) who is the nymphomaniac who hides his face with the skin of dead women and Amber (played by heiress Paris Hilton) who is addicted to Zydrate and to surgery so much that she keeps having needless surgeries that eventually leave her deformed, are in a battle with each other over who Rotti will leave the company too. He decides he is going to leave the company to Shilo. We learn that Shilo’s mom, Marni, used to be in love with Rotti until Nathan came along and stole her from him. When she was pregnant with Shilo, Rotti poisons her and as she is dying Nathan can only save one and saves Shilo. Nathan thinks he killed Marni and Rotti prevents him from being arrested for murder, but is now indebted to Rotti and agrees to be his Repo Man. Marni’s best friend, Blind Mag (played by Sarah Brightman), is given sight by Rotti through eyes she gets from GeneCo and is in turn forced to sing for him at his opera. She decides she is no longer going to sing for him, so Rotti orders the Repo Man to take back her eyes after she sings at her final opera but he refuses to do the job because she was Marni’s friend and we learn she is also Shilo’s godmother. Rotti tells Shilo he can cure her blood disease and to meet him at the opera to receive the antidote. As the opera is starting, Shilo learns her father is the Repo Man and runs off to meet Rotti to get her cure. During the opera, Blind Mag gouges out her own eyes and Rotti cuts the wires holding her in the air and she is impaled and dies. Nathan finds Shilo at the opera and she learns Nathan has been responsible for keeping her sick. Rotti tells Shilo he will give her control of all of GeneCo if she kills Nathan much to the dismay of his children. She doesn’t and when the lights go out, Rotti shoots Nathan. Rotti then collapses on stage and dies and Shilo leaves the opera house free to start living her life. We learn Amber will take over running GeneCo and the company and practice of organ repossession will continue. Whew, I am worn out just writing about it, but Bousman shows why he is one of horror’s greatest directing talents. He takes this daring subject matter and tackles with ease and makes it an enjoyable experience.
Since it is an opera, I do have to touch on the music besides the story, The music in the film is expertly crafted and performed by all the players (Hilton included) and does an amazing job of telling this complex story. “Legal Assassin” is the song we learn about who the Repo Man is and is expertly sung by Head who is perfect every time a note leaves his lips. “Zydrate Anatomy” is the sing along done by the Graverobber that explains the drug he peddles and he sings against Hilton as wel elarn of her addiction to it. “At The Opera Tonight” is the song the whole cast participates in that sets up the events that will unfold at the end of the play and tie all the stories together. The only musical weakness in the film comes in the form of the song of rebellion performed by Vega called “Seventeen.” The song is just painfully bad even if Vega is wearing a shirt that would make most men crazy, the music is so distracting that you close your eyes so you miss it. Joan Jett even makes a cameo in this song as well.
The DVD offers two commentary tracks: one featuring director Darren Lynn Bousman with actors Moseley, Vega and Ogre and the other features Bousman with Repo creators Darren Smith and Zdunich and musical supervisor Joseph Bishara. The Legal Assassin Featurette is an in-depth look at Head’s character and how he became the character. The real gem is the From Stage to Screen Featurette that tells the story of taking this independent stage play and bringing it to the big screen. I wish the feature commentaries would have had Head and Brightman as I would have loved to hear them talk about the experience. The commentaries talk about the struggles the film has faced as it only played on 12 screens and hasn’t even made it’s money back yet. Repo! Is the middle story of a trilogy and should it find a life on DVD like it deserves, hopefully we can see the story expanded upon. If you want to see the most original film concept in years and listen to some exciting musical pieces sung by a stellar cast, Repo! is definitely worth checking out.
