Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on July 23, 2008, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
So many films have visibly strained for cult status in recent years that it’s refreshing to see one that’s guaranteed to attain it simply by staying true to its own demented vision. Which is not to say that Repo! The Genetic Opera doesn’t deserve more than the limited release it’s currently slated to receive this November from Lionsgate. If the cheers it received at the just-concluded Fantasia festival are any indication, director Darren Lynn Bousman’s labor of love will touch a lot of sympathetic nerves—and if a musical about a deranged barber who slits throats and sends his victims to be turned into meat pies can be embraced by the mainstream, why not one set in a future where replacement organs can be purchased on a layaway plan—and are bloodily reclaimed from those who can’t keep up their payments?
That’s the scenario dreamed up first for the underground stage and then adapted for the screen by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, the latter of whom also created the eye-tickling comic-book panels that help tell the story and, for good measure, gives an electric performance as a graverobber who serves as a kind of Greek chorus. He’s part of a criminal underground that has arisen thanks to a massive surge in organ failures, and the resulting rise to power of Geneco, which provides replacement parts for a price. Lording it over the company and thus the world is Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino, clearly having fun in this atypical role but never condescending to the material), assisted by his perpetually squabbling adult children: sons Luigi (Bill Moseley) and the masked Pavi (Ogre from Skinny Puppy), and surgery-junkie daughter Amber Sweet (Paris Hilton).
Rotti’s most trusted underling, however, is his repo man, Nathan Wallace, who’s ruthless in making his extractions from pleading victims but also a loving father to sickly teen daughter Shilo (Alexa Vega), with both sides of the role given great feeling by Anthony Stewart Head. (That sound you’ll hear in theaters playing Repo! will be the swooning of young female audiences who grew up adoring Head on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.) But there’s more of a connection between Rotti and Nathan than just the former’s employment of the latter, which leads to all manner of surprising, dramatic and downright nasty developments, all conveyed in song.
This kind of all-musical storytelling may be an acquired taste for some, and the lyrics occasionally succumb to repetition or become too on-the-nose. Just as often, though, they’re powerful and moving, and delivered with gusto by the eccentric ensemble; Moseley enthusiastically snarls his way through his numbers, while Hilton is undeniably well-cast as a spoiled brat. Shining at the center of it all is Vega, growing up nicely since her Spy Kids days and providing a sane center amidst the craziness surrounding Shilo. Whether lamenting her sheltered life under the overprotective Nathan, rocking out with Joan Jett as her guitarist or declaiming her feelings at the climax, she seems born to take on this very singular role.
Shilo also provides a core of empathy that Repo! The Genetic Opera otherwise rather lacks. As good as Head is, it can be hard to reconcile Nathan’s tenderness toward Shilo and the viciousness with which he dissects the human objects of his work, and most of the rest of the characters are grotesques, albeit entertaining ones. What holds the attention throughout is the complete immersion in this strange world that Bousman and his team of craftspeople have undertaken, which makes it easy to follow them along. Bousman’s direction is pacey but never frenetic, conveying a sense of energy without the jittery cutting of the Saw sequels. There’s something to tantalize the eye or shock the senses in practically every frame, and the movie is sumptuous on its low budget. Production designer David Hackl, another Saw series veteran, really comes into his own with this fully realized world of contrasting decay and extravagance (and sometimes extravagant decay), all captured with the right balance of harsh light and pervasive gloom by cinematographer Joseph White.
Repo! The Genetic Opera is something different in both the horror and musical fields, and it’s to the film’s credit that, under Bousman and co., the two genres complement rather than contradict each other. It’ll be interesting to see how a mass audience takes to this audacious cinematic experience—which is to say that they deserve the chance to see it. This is one movie whose visual vibe cries out to be witnessed on a big screen, and like a traditional opera, it’s an experience that can only be significantly enhanced by the presence of a packed house of fellow appreciative spectators.
