Repo: The Genetic Opera

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is all I’ve even known when it came to crazy horror musicals. Sure many can argue that films like PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET like films, but there has never been a horrific musical that was able to develop that cult following and the midnight showing at local theaters like THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW has. Now for a new generation there is REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, and horror musical that has a more updated approach to the horror that THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW had given the fans back in the 1970’s.

REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA is about a world where people are dying of all kinds of things and need organ transplants in order to live. Unlike today’s world, where you have to have a lot of money or great health insurance, and not to mention wait on a donors list; in this film there are plenty of organs to go around and payment plans are available to those who can’t afford to pay up front. There is also a painkilling drug to help people cope, one that works, but cost a lot of money because it was manufactured by company called GeneCo, the same company that harvests the organs and is run by a crazy family. The story is simple really, If you stop paying your bill for you new organ, the Repo man is sent out to take back the organ and then some from you, leaving you for dead. The deaths are also sanctioned by law. A young girl named Shilo (Alexa Vega), where a rare disease that does not seem to yet have a cure is sucked into the life of the family behind the GeneCo company. Meanwhile an underground drug dealer called the Graverobber (Terrance Zdunich) has found a way of getting affordable painkiller by extracting the drugs from dead corpses in graveyards. It’s unsure of what everyone’s plans are for Shilo and what the importance is behind the disease she has. Lucky for her her father is the Repo man, but she does not really know who her father is. In comes the genetic opera and it’s fabulous tale filled with horror and music. Where the story can go in either direction, but is sure to keep your attention.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I heard about this film, and the fact that is was a horror musical, I didn’t think it was going to be a good movie. I’m not really a big fan of musicals unless it’s something that really grabs me like PHANTOM OF TH OPERA, the only musical on Broadway I actually saw, and the movie of course. But I really was not sure how this film was going to be. I stand corrected REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA is very well written and very entertaining. The story is within the music, and I really don’t have any complaints about the script at all. It’s a very well written horrific musical.

When you think of actors and singers, you know that there are performers that rarely can do both. By looking at this cast on paper you would never think in a million years you would see some of the actors in this film singing in a movie. Well, if you look at certain things and the technology that’s available you can make anyone sound good. Pretty much where I’m going here is you have actors like Paul Sorvino and Bill Moseley singing in a movie, and there actually pretty good you really star to question your sanity. Then you have Paris Hilton in her best roll ever, to the point where I had no clue it was her at first; really says something about the acting in this film. It’s great. You have actor Anthony Head playing the Repo man, an actor who is well known British actor and has also appeared in SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. The cast is very well rounded, and if I had to chose a best horror cast of the year, it would without a doubt be the cast of this film.

The production value is outstanding. There is a lot of CGI that shows off the sets of the film and the landscape. They really work in showing the mood of the characters. The overall look of the film was done with different kinds of color use, to really give the film a look unlike any other. It just one of those film where the time was taken to make sure all the details fell into place to make sure that it had a masterpiece look to it. The make-up and visuals effects are top notch and there is plenty of eye candy for not just the gore hounds but for the cinema aficionados who like to keep their eyes on every frame of a motion picture.

Overall, REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA is the best horror musical since THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. In fact it’s THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW of this generation. I think in the years to come this film will be the movie that plays at midnight in the very few independent movie houses that are still around. Its both visually and shockingly stunning; and its a film that really takes aims at issues such as heath care, plastic surgery, and the everyday things that the media tells us we need to make us better human beings. It’s ugly in that respect, but it also opens up doors about the things that we are consumed by and the problems that we face within our own country and around the world. REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA is one smart horror film, and to think it came from the guy who directed SAW II, III and IV. Got to hand it to Darren Lynn Bousman this is his best work yet.

– Horror Bob

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

– 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

– “From Stage to Screen” featurette

– “Legal Assassin – A Repo Man on the Edge” featurette

– Theatrical trailer

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

– 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

– Select scene audio commentary with Paris Hilton and director Darren Lynn Bousman

– Deleted scenes with audio commentary with Paris Hilton and director Darren Lynn Bousman

– Video Sing-a-longs

– “From Stage to Screen” featurette

– Webisode featurettes

“Legal Assassin – A Repo Man on the Edge” featurette

“Zydrate Anatomy – Amber Sweet: Addicted to the Knife” featurette

“Chase the Morning – Blind Mag: The Voice of GeneCo” featurette

– Theatrical trailer