Coroner’s Report: Repo! The Genetic Opera

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 26, 2009

In approaching this film late and just now getting around to the review, I had two very good reasons.  First, I am rather lazy and second, this movie could easily have been ten tons of steaming fecal matter.  How is one supposed to react when they’re approached with a cinematic goth opera about a dystopian future where organ repossession is not just legal, but the norm?  With excitement, of course.  That, or bowel shaking amounts of doubt.

After a new plague tears across the planet, killing millions and rendering millions more ill, GeneCo rises to power offering a solution – new organs.  Decades later, the world is a crumbled place full of drug addicts who inject fluids withdrawn from corpses and others turn to plastic surgery for fun and bodily improvement.  Set against this apocalyptic landscape is the story of a young girl, Shiloh, as she longs to rid herself of a blood disease and see the real world, a reality made impossible by her protective father, Dr. Nathan Wallace, a respected doctor with a sinister nightjob.  For when the sun sets and he is called into action, Nathan covers himself in a uniform that is part butcher, part biological contamination suit and sets upon those who have defaulted on their organ payments – he is a legal assassin.  Expressed almost completely through song, the relationships and power struggles between the characters become clear and head towards one earth shattering night at the opera.

Kills

When dealing with a man who deals death in reclaiming organs, one would expect a high body count and the film does not fail on this count.  About nineteen people fall prey to various methods of violence.

Ills

The film features hundreds of corpses and several organ reclamations.  The Repo Man is a wizard with a scalpel and opens stomachs like tins of sardines to reclaim GeneCo livers and spleens.  One especially awesome reclamation involves the retrieval of a spine.  Additionally, there are several gun shot wounds, a bullet to the head, eye damage, a broken neck, several stabbings, and a corpse puppet. Also, Paris Hilton’s face falls off, so you might want to check that out.

Lust

Paris Hilton sexes up one dance number with some fetish like outfits and plenty of sexy ladies are around in strangely erotic costumes.  Toss in a few naked bodies and the obligatory nipple shot and you’re in business.

Learning

Repo! perhaps could not be more topical now – don’t buy things you can’t afford, like designer spines, and don’t fall behind on your payments.

Review

Repo! The Genetic Opera is a true rock opera not for the faint of heart.  If the mere thought of the film sends waves of disgust and disinterest coursing through your veins, the odds of you being won over are little.  However, if the film appeals to you either on the basis of its operatic nature or its horror origins, then you owe it to yourself to give it a look.  Personally, I’m more than willing to give musicals and operas a chance on film, as I have a soft spot for musical theater.  I’m just as likely to be pimping Les Miserables down Sunset as I am to rollbounce to The Red Hot Chili Peppers.  That admission aside, my early feelings about the film were mixed at best, skewing negative.  Footage revealed at comic-con was strange and featured one of the weaker musical numbers, perhaps doing more harm than good in advancing the cause of the film.  Perhaps predictably although all together surprisingly, I found myself absolutely delighted with the film.

This goth opera proved to be psychotic, strange, and rockingly satisfying.  Repo! is at times outrageously over the top and insane though these moments are carefully balanced with the heart wrenching emotion of Nathan Wallace and his departed wife.  If there was one attribute to ascribe the success of the film to, it is undoubtedly Anthony Stewart Head’s performance as Nathan/Repo Man.  He is many things at many times, struggling to understand if he is the caring father or the over bearing one, battling his inner, evil night surgeon against his calm and caring doctor persona.  In the number Legal Assassin he explains this inner turmoil in what is basically a duet with himself, at times raw, powerful and loud, only to be countered by the soft, emotional longing for his family.  Later, listening to either Let the Monster Rise or I Didn’t Know I Loved You So Much, you’ll find the same powerful emotions coming from Head, often the tenor of his voice enough to send shivers through your spine.

Alex Vega as Shiloh Wallace is a close but definitive second in my book under “reasons why this film rocked my face and my heart.”  She is quite the beautiful young lady with a set of pipes that allow her to master the most challenging rage of songs.  Tasked with rocking and rolling (with the aide of Joan Jett on guiatr) in Seventeen or the distressed damsel in Infected, young Vega powers through with more emotion and talent than any American Idol or Pop Star.  The weight of the film is rested upon her ability to convey emotion through both her body and her voice, a task at which she excels – one listen to Genetic Emancipation assures you of that.

The ensemble of actors collected may not be the most technically proficient of singers, but everyone from Bill Mosley to Paul Sorvino accomplishes the task at hand at the very least competently if not at times rather well.  Miss Hilton is the weak link in the chain, though she more often than not hits the right notes.  If I could change one aspect of the film, I would have loved for Bousman to have utilized Shawnee Smith in the role – the actress whom he utilized in making a short to pitch the film.  Terrance Zdunich, one of the creative powers behind the original opera, plays the Graverobber, a narrator of sorts and peddler of the drug zydrate.  Graverobber serves the purpose of providing a little insight to the world and peddling street drugs, though strangely his songs are somewhat weak, though that is probably due to their neo nature in that they’re low and rumbly and feature Zdunich almost rapping over the beat, whereas I prefer my opera classical.  I do feel the need to point out one glaring flaw – towards the end there is some utterly atrocious CGI blood that looks like it was thrown in as an afterthought.  A terrible bit of work that comes at exactly the wrong time, distracting the audience from the emotional climax of the film.

While definitely not for everyone and sure to be despised by some, I none the less had a great time going back to this strange piece of wonderful.  The soundtrack is, as you may have guessed, absolutely brilliant and it’s been playing on my computer non-stop for days.  If you have an interest in the film, give in and accept it.  If it seems frightening but you’re a fan of musical or opera, give it a chance.  Anthony Stewart Head knocks out a performance that reminds me somewhat of Colm Wilkinson as Jean Val Jean, though it would be insincere to put him on the same level of Wilkinson.  That said, Head really does put in a masterstroke of song, completely owning each of the musical numbers.  I really can’t stress how much I enjoyed his and Alex Vega’s performances.  Strange, odd, and wonderfully original, Repo! is a culty film that is sure to have a following.  Fall in line.

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