Repo! The Genetic Opera 2008

Repo! The Genetic Opera 2008

First of all I am going to keep this short.  I was on a quest tonight to watch two films with very similar subject matter (Repo! The Genetic Opera and Repo Men) so that I could do some critical thinking comparing the two, but I got stopped with shear wonder after watching Repo!.  It deserves a bit of a write up of its own instead of being used as a foil to compare and contrast another more popular film.  This movie fits into a rare class of albums and musicals lumped together as 'Rock Operas' or 'Rock Musicals'.  The genre is best known for albums like Tommy by The Who, Pink Floyd's film/album The Wall, or, to a casual audience, the puppet rock opera created by Segal's character during the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  One could argue for the inclusion of other off-beat modern musicals like cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show or the super awesome, super villain musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.  The music in the film is great, straddling the line between a musical and rock concert and one scene even features Joan Jett playing guitar in the background.

Repo! really strikes a cord of the wonder, awe, and fun of my first time watching Rocky Horror, but it is also a much darker tale with strong similarities to slasher-porn movies like Saw.  The connection to the Saw series is unmistakable as Repo! was directed by the writer/director of Saw II.  Darren Lynn Bousman brought his experience from directing three movies in the Saw franchise to Repo! giving it a chilling, grotesque quality.  The horror aspect didn't really appeal to me, but combined with the music it was so surreal that some of the more horrific scenes were more comical than gag inducing. The acting was sub-par for much of the cast, but their singing was generally good overshadowing the cheesy musical theater acting.  The cast includes the likes of Paris Hilton, Bill Moseley, Paul Sorvino, and stars the cute Alexa Vega.  A character and personality that steals every scene is the Graverobber played by Terrance Zdunich who also co-wrote the script.  Technically the film did great creating a dark, larger-than-life world, but at times the sets looked more like a stage set than a movie set. 

Overall the film is only going to appeal to a niche audience.  Within that niche though it has become a cult classic and I believe like Rocky Horror and Clerks will become more popular as the myths surrounding it grow.  This film does need a disclaimer that it is a slasher-horror movie and it is a musical.  One or the other will prevent most people from enjoying it, but I hope that those with an open mind give it a shot.  I would recommend this film to fans looking for the lighter side of slashers and anyone who needs a little more rock opera in their life.