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Released by: Lionsgate
Released on: 1/20/2009
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Cast: Bill Mosley, Paris Hilton, Paul Sorvino, Ogre, Anthony Stewart, Sarah Brightman, Alexa Vega
Year: 2008
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The Movie:
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, the man behind the Saw sequels, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a big screen, low budget adaptation of the play of the same name (Bousman actually directed the play in LA as well so he's a good choice to direct). The film is set in 2056, where the world is dealing with massive organ failure problems. Taking full advantage of this is GeneCo, a corporation that cashes in on the organ transplant craze and makes a very tidy profit off of their services.
While GeneCo gives transplants to all sorts of people, when someone reneges on a payment those organs become the subject of repossession and they send in repo men, just like a bank would on a car, to get the organ back. While the world falls farther and farther into corporate chaos, a young woman tries to figure out what to do about her terminal illness while the family that owns GeneCo fights amongst themselves… and it all leads to the spectacle that is the Genetic Opera!
Shot with loads of style with not a spoken word in sight, Repo! The Genetic Opera is… strange. You'd think with the hype machine behind this touting it as the modern day equivalent of The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Phantom Of The Paradise both of which are musicals and not rock operas as this is) that the film would be a recipe for studio manufactured suck but somehow Repo! The Genetic Opera sort of works. Much of the credit has to go to the cast, made up of the likes of Bill Mosley, Paris Hilton (scoff all you want, she's good in this part!), Paul Sorvino, Ogre, Anthony Stewart, Sarah Brightman, and Alexa Vega most of whom can actually carry a tune fairly well and who do a fine and very enthusiastic job playing this material with completely straight faces.
On top of that are the visuals. Given that this is a fairly low budget picture, you can expect to see a lot of the heavier work done via CGI but take that out of the equation and you left with a movie that really does look very much like a living, breathing comic book. The color scheme, the wardrobe, the backgrounds and sets all have a wonderful odd sci-fi slant to them that works really well in the movies favor - and on top of that, the music is really catchy!
The film feels a little bit long in a couple of spots and there are times where you can't help but feel the movie is weird simply for the sake of being weird but the end result is a very entertaining and completely off the wall film that turns out to be a lot of fun. It's not a perfect picture, and some of its flaws are a bit too obvious, but warts and all Repo! The Genetic Opera is hard not to enjoy.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The anamorphic 1.78.1 AVC encoded 1080p transfer for Repo! looks great once you get used to the film's strange color schemes. Black levels are rich and strong and detail is quite impressive when it wants to be. The film has had a lot of post production tweaking done to it to give it a very stylized look so you won't get the clarity of something like Planet Earth but rather something more akin to a comic book come to life. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement to note nor are there any issues with shimmering or moiré. Skin tones look as odd as they should given the film's storyline, not natural at all, but that's how it should be, really.
The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track on this disc kicks all kinds of ass! There's constant activity coming at you from all directions and the music packs just the right amount of punch to carry some genuine impact and get your foot tapping in unison. Vocals are clean and clear and there's plenty of tight, bouncy, bass response to provide a full lower end. There's a lot of detail in the sound mix, from the ambient noise to the various instruments used in the music, and all of this comes through very clearly. Optional subtitles are provided in English, Spanish and English SDH.
Hey kids, like commentary tracks? Lionsgate has included three (!) of them on this release, the first of which is from director Darren Lynn Bousman and actors Bill Moseley, Alexa Vega and Ogre. The second track features Darren Lynn Bousman, co-creators Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, and music producer Josepha Bishara while the third track, which is Blu-ray exclusive, covers select scenes with input from Darren Lynn Bousman and Paris Hilton! Between these three talks, there's really no stone left unturned. They cover pre-production, what it was like adapting this rock opera for the silver screen, casting the picture, what it was like for some of the actors to sing on camera, and pretty much anything else you could think of. Bousman and Hilton also offer optional commentary over a selection of deleted scenes. Supposedly there's a fair bit more deleted material out there, a shame then that we only get about ten minutes worth of it included here (and standard def fans will be out of luck there as none of the deleted scenes are included on that release). While it's unlikely that anyone was pining away for a Paris Hilton commentary, it's here for those who want it.
From there, if you don't already know all there is to know about the film, check out the ten-minute From Stage To Screen Featurette that covers Repo!'s transition from, well, the stage to the screen and what was involved in making that happen.
Rounding out the extras are the film's original theatrical trailer, a poster gallery, a collection of four short webisodes from the film's official web page that take us behind the scenes, and a Blu-ray exclusive video sing along option so that you can belt out any number of tracks from the soundtrack along with the performers! It's a shame that the original short film and all of the web related content hasn't been ported over, but there's still quite a bit of supplemental content here to enjoy.
The Final Word:
Is it a black comedy? A goth musical? A horror movie? All of the above? Repo! The Genetic Opera is one of the strangest films to come along in some time but given its truly unique nature and high entertainment value, it's one that's definitely worth a look for those who appreciate a rock opera now and then. Lionsgate has really gone all out with the extras (even if there could have been more) and the presentation on this Blu-ray release, making it even more worthy of checking out, particularly when you take into account the very reasonable price point.