Repo! The Genetic Opera

Repo! The Genetic Opera

There's not a false note anywhere in this futuristic romp, which plays like an amped-up, dystopian slice-n-splice of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Blade Runner
	Repo! The Genetic Opera Starring Anthony Head, Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino, Ogre, Bill Moseley, Paris Hilton, Sarah Brightman, Terrance Zdunich Based on the 2001 stage production written by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich Written by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich Directed by Darren Bousman Lionsgate Rated R Opens Nov. 7

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Buffy's Anthony Stewart Head, Paris Hilton and company sing and dance their way through the sci-fi future of Repo! The Genetic Opera

By: [url=staci@stacilaynewilson.com]Staci Layne Wilson[/url]

Mixing a dash of modern-day comic-book-style illustrative animation with the age-old tradition of operatic melodrama in live action, Repo! The Genetic Opera's players opine their woes and wickedness in ballads, raps, arias and hard-rock harmonies.

In a dystopian future world, the power is in the hands of a select few. Among other things, this leaves citizens who are terminally ill at the mercy of GeneCo, a medical conglomerate that not only loans them the money to save their lives, but also provides the new hearts, livers and brains they need and will get them in and out of painless surgery aided by Zydrate, the morphine-like drug it's developed.

What starts out as a deal that's too good to be true turns out to be just that as fashionable internal organs become as sought-after as the latest designer bag or the most prestigious sports car. People buying on time sometimes find themselves short, and out of time ... and a Repo Man is sent to seize the innards by any means possible. Furthermore, Zydrate, which is extracted from the brains of fresh corpses, becomes a sought-after street drug, and the daughter of GeneCo's CEO is hopelessly addicted, bringing shame on the corrupt family.

As the title indicates, Repo! is a genuine opera, which means the story is conveyed completely in song from beginning to end. But "opera" should not imply that it's all Pavarotti-styled arias. Most of the tunes are hummable rock numbers and ballads not unlike what you've heard in The Rocky Horror Picture Show or Moulin Rouge!

It's directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (of Saw films fame) and written by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich. Zdunich also stars, as well as Anthony Stewart Head as the Repo Man, Alexa Vega as his clueless daughter Shilo and Paris Hilton and Ogre as the no-good, spoiled rich kids of GeneCo's controller (played by Paul Sorvino).

Repo! The Genetic Opera is one of those cultish, extreme and completely unique films that polarize fans and critics—people seem to either love it or hate it. For artists, this can create extreme highs and lows, but that's what feeds them. No one likes to have his work seen as bland or "just OK."