Does anybody else know that this movie exists besides me? No? Well, good. Now I get the privilege of telling you about the majesty that is Repo! The Genetic Opera. This movie was based on the stage play of the same name that was created by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich (which is one of the coolest names I've ever heard). This movie didn't have the budget for marketing, aside from a standard trailer. I saw the trailer for it on one of the Saw DVDs and was interested. Then I discovered that my Mom magically had a DVD copy of Repo!, so I watched it and I loved it. For the movie adaptation of their play, Smith and Zdunich got Darren Lynn Bousman to direct. You may know him as the director of the second, third, and fourth Saw movies. There is a lot to talk about with this movie, to the point that even basic plot details run the risk of spoiling things, so I better just get to it.
Firstly, the story. The movie takes place in the not-too-distant future of 2050 (I think). Organ failures have become a global epidemic, causing millions to die. In the midst of the chaos, a man by the name of Rotti Largo opens a business called GeneCo. GeneCo specializes in organ transplants. If you can't afford it, you can essentially put your organ on layaway and make monthly payments on it until it's paid off. If you miss one payment, though, GeneCo sends out one of their Repo Men to murder you and take the organ back. That is a very creative and interesting story, and the movie has a lot of fun with it. When it wants to be gory, it's gonna be gory. The movie does not shy away from showing organs getting removed, and the effects for them look very good. GeneCo also holds yearly operas (hence the title), and a lot of the movie takes place during one of them. There are also multiple smaller storylines, all of which come together nicely in the third act to give us an awesome, if slightly unsatisfying, conclusion.
And, then, we get to the music. The title wasn't lying to you, Repo! is a full-blown opera. 85% of the dialogue is sung by the characters, making the whole movie feel like one, continuous musical number. That is in no way a bad thing. These songs are very good. Not all of the characters sing in an operatic voice, though. Rotti does, Blind Mag does, and some of the chorus members do. But, for the most part, all of the singers do a very good job. The best of the songs, in my opinion, are "Zydrate Anatomy", "At the Opera Tonight", "Legal Assassin", "Mark it Up", and "I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much" That's out of, like, thirty-something musical numbers. I had a lot of good songs to choose from, but I was able to narrow it down to five. The music features tons of electric guitar riffs, drums, synths, most of the songs border on heavy metal. There are a few straight-up opera songs, too. Mag gets a beautiful one near the end of the movie. There's also a lot of piano and strings (mostly violin) that are heard in a few of the instrumentals. A good bit of the time, the lyrics don't rhyme. I can look past that, however, because I'm completely engrossed by the story, acting, and music. The fact that the characters are singing their lines instead of saying them just makes it feel more like an actual opera. Besides, Phantom of the Opera had a habit of doing that and no one seemed to mind in that instance. My three favorite notes come from Anthony Head and Terrance Zdunich, with Head taking two of them. His high note in "Night Surgeon", his sixteen-second long note at the end of "Let the Monster Rise", and Zdunich screaming "GRAAAAAAVES" in "21st Century Cure" all those times. I'm not usually a fan of screamy songs, but that note sounded awesome.
Now, let's move on to the actors. This movie has an all-star cast. Paul Sorvino as Rotti Largo, Anthony Head as Nathan Wallace (as well as the main Repo Man), Alexa Vega as Shilo Wallace, Bill Moseley as Luigi Largo, Paris Hilton as Amber Sweet, Sarah Brightman as Blind Mag, Nivek Ogre (lead singer of Skinny Puppy) as Pavi Largo, and Terrance Zdunich as Grave-Robber. Most of their performances come from their singing abilities, and they do a great job (for the most part). The awards for best voices go to Anthony Head, Sarah Brightman, Paul Sorvino, and Terrence Zdunich. Sorvino is a classically trained opera singer, and he really shows off his incredible pipes in this movie. The only two singers that weren't quite up to snuff when compared to the others were Bill Moseley and Paris Hilton. Not to say they don't have good voices, they just fall short of the standard set by everyone else. Paris was very pitchy, while Bill sounded pained while hitting some of these notes. I love Bill as an actor from movies like this one and The Devil's Rejects, but his voice leaves more to be desired. The acting as a whole is pure campy goodness. All of the actors are clearly having a blast with their roles, and I love it. All of the actors do a great job in this. Paris actually surprised me with how well she performed here. Yes, she's basically playing herself, but she's good at that. I have no complaints. This movie did not deserve the Razzie. It feels like it earned one just for having Paris Hilton in the cast.
The movie has a surprising amount of heart, too. Shilo wants to see the world, but she can't because of a blood disease that was passed onto her by her deceased mother (named Marni). It's tearing her apart, as evidenced by some of the lyrics in "Infected". Marni's death destroyed Nathan, as evidenced by some of the lyrics in "Legal Assassin". There's also the fact that Marni left Rotti to be with Nathan, which destroyed Rotti. You can piece together who's responsible for Marni's death. Rotti also has a blood disease that's slowly killing him, so he needs to choose one of his children to be the heir of the GeneCo fortune. But which one? Luigi, a homicidal, psychotic manchild that will kill a man if he doesn't give him the correct type of coffee? Pavi, a womanizing narcissist that wears the faces of the people he kills? Amber, a rich, spoiled brat who constantly changes how she looks? Yeah, he doesn't have good options. He wants Shilo to take over the company, but, again, Shilo has a blood disease. The fact that Rotti makes his disdain for his kids as vocal as he does actually earns the Largo kids a bit of sympathy. Not a lot, given who they are, but it helps you like them a bit more. Despite his flaws, Luigi clearly does love his father. He also actively tries to keep Shilo away from Pavi in the last scene. Basically, Luigi is the most likeable of the three. Nathan cares about Shilo and watts to keep her safe after the loss of Marni, and flat out refuses to kill Mag (a friend of Marni's) when Rotti presents it to him as a job. Some of the scenes are genuinely well-acted, they feel like driftwood floating around in a sea of cheese.
And, finally, the ending. I mentioned earlier that it's slightly unsatisfactory, and it is, but only in one aspect. I'll get to it later. But, first, we need the setup. When I said that the minor storylines come together at the end, I meant it. All of the storylines, except for one, get resolved. Blind Mag's contract expiring is resolved by just killing her off after her last song. The issue of who will inherit GeneCo is resolved by having Amber take over the company after Rotti finally kicks the bucket. Even Shilo's blood disease is brought to an end when it's revealed, in a surprisingly good twist, that she wasn't sick at all. Nathan's been poisoning and then curing her for her whole life so that she'll stay at home and be safe. The loss of Marni drove Nathan to the brink of maddness, and now he'll do whatever it takes to protect Shilo. I don't agree with his methods, but I can admire what he's trying to do. But, sadly, because he disobeyed Rotti, Nathan ends up biting the bullet (literally). He dies in what is easily the saddest scene in the whole film. Here's where the problem with killing Nathan lies. Shilo is an orphan now. Are we expected to believe that she can take care of herself on her own in the post-apocalyptic society she lives in? It'd be different if she had inherited GeneCo, but she didn't. Amber did. So, the main story is finished, but Shilo's isn't. This would be where a sequel would come in, but we won't be getting one, so I'll just bite my tongue and accept it.
Repo! The Genetic Opera is pure narmy fun, on par with the likes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I'm sad that we never got a sequel, but there's a reason for that. Smith, Bousman, and Zdunich have stated that this movie was meant to be the middle section of a trilogy. A prequel and a sequel were meant to be made after this movie happened. Well, Zdunich and Smith lost the rights to their own creation. Because of this, Terrance and Bousman teamed back up to give us The Devil's Carnival in 2012, and then a sequel (Alleluia!) in 2016. A lot of the same cast returned for these movies, including Sorvino, Zdunich, Vega (she didn't do Alleluia! cause she deemed it "sacrilegious"), Moseley, and Ogre. Those movies are good, too, but they struck gold with Repo!. Every chance I get to introduce one of my friends to the world of The Genetic Opera, I take it. If you manage to get your hands on a DVD or Blu-Ray copy of it, get it. If you like cheesy, gory, musicals, then you will adore this. I know I do. Tommorrow, I reveal my favorite movie. It was Repo! for the longest time, but then I watched my next pick on Netflix and it completely blew me away. Stay tuned for tomorrow to find out what it is.
