repo! the genetic opera Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Rogue

I don't care how many times they push it back, or how much potential for hackneyed disaster there is in a film about a killer crocodile -- I'm looking forward to Rogue, mostly because there was a lot that impressed me about Greg Mclean's debut film, 2005's Wolf Creek. For one thing, it was bold enough to defy several horror cliches, such as foreshadowing dread in the early scenes -- the first thirty minutes of Wolf Creek could be part of an Aussie road drip dramedy, with three aimless kids taking their rickety car way too far into unsafe areas of the Outback. It's also a film that's completely unrelenting in the psychic trauma it wants to inflict on the audience. By the time the slaughtering starts, we know these characters -- we care about them. Frankly, Mclean seems like he'd be completely bored with making a standard slasher/monster film with paper-thin characters. Therefore, I'm going to be first in line for his killer croc movie, and wait for my enthusiasm to blow up in my face.

Friday the 13th

I have no idea if this will get to theaters by late 2008, but I know that Platinum Dunes does have the gears grinding, so it's a possibility. In fact, a little birdie recently told me something hilarious -- Corey Feldman went in and pitched himself as the star of this thing. For those who don't remember, Feldman played Vorhees foe Tommy Jarvis in two installments of the original series, and he apparently had designs on making the Friday remake his newest comeback vehicle. There's really nothing you can do with Jason at this point other than remake him, but how? Word is that PD wants the remake to feature both Jason and his trademark mask -- two elements that didn't congeal until Part III of the original series, so I'm imagining a smelting together of the first three films, set in modern day and with a lot of in-jokes. I guess it will be a film about a little boy who drowns in a lake and immediately morphs into an overgrown, lumbering killer with a machete. Sounds intriguing.

For months I had been checking the Once More with Feeling Sing Along rss feed, waiting for the word "Toronto" to pop up, eternally hopeful that at some point I'd get some Buffy with a taste of Rocky Horror. Those dreams were dashed when the project got into hot water, but now there's something to dull the pain of this loss. Yes, fellow Buffy fans, footage from Repo! The Genetic Opera has been released, and it's got some great shots of a singing Tony Head, which have sent me into a fangirl glee. To refresh your memory -- this is the genetic repossession musical that first got Paul Sorvino and Alexa Vega, and then followed with the surprise casting of Paris Hilton, and then gave us a wonderful Giles cherry when Head joined the cast as the Repo Man last month.

The song clip was screened as part of the 2007 Scream Awards, and now part of it has popped up online over at YouTube. But have no fear -- even if it gets taken down, you can see it with a much better resolution tomorrow night when the Spike channel airs the awards at 10 PM. If the clip is any indication of the whole, this should be a pretty big and successful movie. It's got a sort of dark, metal, industrial feel, and the part that is online shows Head getting ready to take back some body parts, collecting his surgical instruments and throwing on an ominous costume while belting out some lyrics along with other fellow cast members. Oh, the beauty! And oh, how I wish I could watch this sucker be put together. Bloody Disgusting, however, did (lucky b*stards!), and has been gathering a decent collection of information. But best of all - we won't have too long to wait to see it -- the movie is set to be released on April 25 of next year!

[via Horror-Movies]

I never was into the whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing, so to me, Anthony Stewart Head is "that guy who played Frank-N-Furter when I saw The Rocky Horror Show in London after college." (I liked his small role in Scoop, too.) Now Head's official fan website has announced that the actor best known as Buffy's mentor Giles has joined the cast of Repo! The Genetic Opera. The "horror musical" is being directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who helmed the second through fourth installments in the Saw series. The website says Head has "the lead role" in the futuristic film, which will contain both rock and opera music.

Repo! The Genetic Opera is about a company that creates perfect internal organs ... and if you can't pay for them on time, a repo man will be assigned to remove them. It sounds vaguely Delicatessen-ish to me. As Monika Bartyzel told us in July, Paul Sorvino has been cast as the organ-company owner, and Alexa Vega (Spy Kids) as the daughter of a repo man. Her repo man dad must be important because Shock Till You Drop, where Cinematical first spotted the news, says that's the role Head will be playing. Shock Till You Drop notes another last-minute cast addition, courtesy of Bousman's MySpace page: singer Sarah Brightman.The cast also includes Tobin Bell and, as if the film didn't sound bizarre enough, Paris Hilton in a role that involves singing. Shooting is scheduled to begin this week in Toronto.

Now that Paris Hilton has served her time, we can all look forward to her moving ahead with her acting career. Despite the fact that she no longer has an agent, Hilton managed to win a part in Darren Lynn Bousman's Repo! The Genetic Opera. Bousman (Saw II, III and IV) and producer Carl Mazzocone (Boxing Helena) both claim that out of about 30 actresses who auditioned for the part Hilton was by far the best. And for those of you who enjoy her vocal talents as much as her acting skills, you'll be happy to know that she will be singing in the sci-fi-horror-musical. Hilton's character will be the daughter of Paul Sorvino's villainous "organ transplant magnate." Sorvino and Spy Kids' Alexa Vega were both cast last week, with Vega landing the role of a repo man's daughter. Perhaps Vega and Hilton will be friends in the film? And maybe the two can become BFFs in real life, too, and 18-year-old Vega can become the newest paparrazzi darling.

I don't know about you, but I'm now pretty excited about Repo! It isn't that I am looking forward to watching Hilton act and sing on the big screen, I just think the whole project sounds ridiculous, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. It could end up a big joke, or it could be enjoyable as a guilty pleasure or cult hit, or maybe it will actually be brilliant. What if Hilton's true calling is to be an opera singer? Of course, Repo! will not only feature opera numbers; there will reportedly be some rock songs as well. Last month Hilton told Larry King that she had two films lined up, but it isn't clear if Repo! was one of them. She will next be seen in The Hottie and the Nottie, which is due next year.

Genetic repossession seems to be all the rage these days. We've already got Repossession Mambo, which Ryan told us about in June. The film, which stars Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, is about an organ repo man who goes on the run when he can't pay his bill after a transplant. Now we're getting another flick with pretty much the same plot -- just told from a different angle. Repo! The Genetic Opera takes on the doctor side of things, focusing "on a cruel entrepreneur who creates genetically perfect organs that everybody needs in 2056, and who is content to send in a repo man if the recipient can't make payments."

Okay, there's one other twist like the title suggests -- this will be more of a Sweeney Todd sort of film -- having 55 musical compositions from a number of musical genres. Uber-popular genetic repossession and the tres-hot trend of horror musicals -- how can they go wrong? Paul Sorvino, who is conveniently an operatic tenor, will play "the villainous owner of organ-maker Geneco." And by Vega we mean Alexa Vega, from Spy Kids fame. She'll play a girl whose father is a repo man (and pretty much an indentured servant) to the Geneco owner. Sorvino says: "I've never seen or heard of a film quite like this one, but the story is fascinating and the imagination at work here is colossal."

The film has been in the works for a few years now. Last year, director Darren Lynn Bousman created a short film of the story to shop around the idea. Now he's at the helm of the feature, and I'm sure we can expect lots of blood intermingled with the songs -- he's the guy behind Saw 2, 3 and 4. The film also has a creepy face already attached -- Tobin Bell. Bousman fans will remember him as Jigsaw from the Saw franchise, and non-Saw fans might remember him as Killer Beez from Overnight Delivery.