Repo! The Genetic Opera

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 (USA) / 2008 11 07 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 031398104353

Studio: Lionsgate

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drug Content, Gore]

Summary: Saw series mainstay Darren Lynn Bousman reunites with Twisted Pictures producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg for this futuristic shocker detailing a terrifying epidemic of organ failures. The denizens of planet Earth have been devastated by inexplicable and widespread organ failures, and as a result scientists begin planning a substantial organ harvest. Though an innovative biotech conglomerate subsequently offers the fearful public a means of maintaining their health by enacting a series of hassle-free organ payment plans, things begin to get messy when it's revealed that the financed body parts are subjected to legal default, and that failure to maintain proper payment will result in forceful repossession of the organs. Paul Sorvino and Spy Kids' Alexa Vega star alongside celebrity socialite Paris Hilton in the Lionsgate film. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Musical

Awards: Film Presented – FanTasia International Film Festival

Features: cc
From Stage to Screen featurette
Audio commentary with director Darren Lynn Bousman and actors Bill Moseley, Alexa Vega and Ogre
Audio commentary with director Darren Lynn Bousman, co-creators Darren Smith and Terrence Zdunich and music producer Joseph Bishara
Legal Assassin featurette
Theatrical trailer

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Format: DVD

Release Date: 01/20/2009

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Alternate Wide Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 97 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Repo! The Genetic Opera
1. An Epidemic of Organ Failures [3:14]
2. Genetic Repo Man [4:19]
3. Things You See in a Graveyard [5:59]
4. Legal Assassin [5:50]
5. Mark It Up [3:37]
6. Thankless Job [6:55]
7. Payment Past Due [7:06]
8. Zydrate Anatomy [3:29]
9. Night Surgeon [7:51]
10. Chase the Morning [2:44]
11. Seventeen [6:05]
12. At the Opera Tonight [7:57]
13. Testify! [3:06]
14. Chromaggia [4:23]
15. Let the Monster Rise [4:03]
16. I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much [8:09]
17. Genetic Emancipation [3:22]
18. Geneco's Story Continues... [3:09]

Derek Armstrong

Because Darren Lynn Bousman had just soullessly toiled away on the second, third, and fourth Saw movies, it would be easy to dismiss him as a hack with no vision beyond that required to see his next paycheck. But if churning out those movies was a necessary evil toward making his passion project, Repo! The Genetic Opera, then all is forgiven. Repo! was excoriated by critics for such reasons as the casting of Paris Hilton, as well as its risky premise: an R-rated opera in which surgically implanted organs are repossessed for nonpayment. It seems many critics couldn't get past their knee-jerk reactions, because if they had, they would have recognized Repo! as the ambitious feast of originality that it is. This is what Tim Burton should have gone for with Sweeney Todd: a dark, dystopian epic that's emotionally satisfying, but also sometimes funny, and lives up to the expected scope of its format. As the father and daughter at the center of the story, Anthony Head and Alexa Vega bring terrific depth of feeling to their characters, and Buffy fans will be especially delighted to see Head (their beloved Giles) in the leading role he so richly deserves. It helps to have plenty of feeling built in to the songs from the original stage musical, composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, whose lyrics stop just short of being comically literal. The supporting performances are also effective in context, from Paul Sorvino to soprano Sarah Brightman, with even Hilton herself fitting into the film's thrust. It's important to remember that Repo!'s trash factor is intentional, as this film actively aspires to join the lurid ranks of film's great exploitation movies. But there's nothing unintentionally trashy about it, either in terms of its sentiments (the tragic story is plenty involving), its social commentary (our appearance-obsessed society gets a wicked skewering), or its production (a balance between sweeping digital cityscapes and low-tech sets that embrace Repo!'s stage origins). Even the comic-book panels that advance the narrative work perfectly with Bousman's design. "Narrated" by a sympathetic gravedigger who traffics in street surgical drugs, Repo! The Genetic Opera has got "future cult classic" written all over it. It could be the Rocky Horror Picture Show of gothic rock operas, to a receptive audience. And Bousman proves he has good creative vision after all, free from those snapping traps that had shackled him. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mark Burg  Producer 
Oren Koules  Producer 
Jonathan McHugh  Executive Producer 
Carl Mazzocone  Producer 
Peter Block  Executive Producer 
Jason Constantine  Executive Producer 
Darren Lynn Bousman  Director 
Darren Lynn Bousman  Executive Producer 
Darren Lynn Bousman  Producer 
Sarah Greenberg  Executive Producer 
Tim Palen  Executive Producer 
Terrance Zdunich  Composer (Music Score) 
Terrance Zdunich  Screenwriter 
Darren Smith  Composer (Music Score) 
Darren Smith  Screenwriter 
Anthony Head  Actor 
Alexa Vega  Actor 
Paul Sorvino  Actor 
Terrance Zdunich  Actor 
Bill Moseley  Actor 
Nivek Ogre  Actor 
Paris Hilton  Actor 
Sarah Brightman  Actor 

Country: USA