REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA

Repo! The Genetic Opera is a rock, shock, horror musical – loaded with enough blood and guts to fill a swimming pool and enough black leather to host a Dominatrix party.

Set in the not-too-distant future, America has been hit by a terrible epidemic – organ failures.

Residents turn to GeneCo, a biotech company, who provide transplants, but at a high and deadly price.

Those who fail to keep up with their payments must face The Repo Man – a masked assassin appointed by the company to repossess their insides.

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, III and IV) and based on an underground musical play of the same name, this is the kind of film that stinks of originality.

Repo! centres around Nathan Wallace (Anthony Head), a loving but overprotective father, desperately seeking a miracle cure for his 17-year-old daughter, Shilo, who suffers from a rare blood disease.

But Nathan has a dark secret.

At night he is The Repo Man – a masked avenger who stalks the darkened streets, slashing his way through dozens of GeneCo’s customers failing to keep up with their organ payments.

Throw in a few subplots, a bit of Shakespearian tragedy, some brilliant industrial rock songs and Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas) as the devilish director of GeneCo and you have a winning formula.

Granted, at times, it shamelessly pinches from Blade Runner, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Phantom of the Opera, but Repo! is still guts ahead of other modern horror movies – creating a truly alternative slant on a lack lustre genre, which is rapidly becoming more repetitive by the year.

And mixing horror with music really works, especially on songs, such as, Thankless Job, which sees a frustrated Repo Man tearing out a client’s intestines while mournfully singing: ‘It’s a Thankless Job, but somebody has got to do it.’ Nice!

Fans of Mamma Mia, this is not for you. But for those willing to open their heart, lungs and other bodily organs to Repo! The Genetic Opera will not be disappointed. This is a horror treat, you would be gutted to miss!

Rating: * * * *

Now available on DVD and Blu-Ray