Please don't tell William Gibson this exists.

September 5, 2008 10:26 PM

I know what you're thinking. What could be better than a below-low-budget sci-fi/horror hypersexualized movie based off of a musical, with a playwright who also decided to star in both stage and screen adaptations? Well, then, what if we up the ante! It's also a socially-conscious cyberpunk movie musical, written, directed, scored and costumed by people in 2008 who have decided that 1996 is as far as the future goes, thanks... so it's also a goth/raver socially conscious cyberpunk movie musical, complete with blue-streaked hair, muppet-fur and clunky vinyl boots! No? We need to aim higher to do better? Well, here comes the kicker, the one element that will immortalize this film: Starring Paris Hilton. Singing. In S&M gear. And a wig. Doing drugs. Lo, I bring you REPO! The Genetic Opera! (The film.) NSFW or self respect.
posted by Slap*Happy (53 comments total)

Statement. Statement? Statement!
posted by phrontist at 10:43 PM on September 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Wait, wait. Are the 90's "retro" already?
posted by rivenwanderer at 10:47 PM on September 5, 2008

Ick.
posted by Clave at 10:47 PM on September 5, 2008

Wao.
posted by delmoi at 10:53 PM on September 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

I remember when this all seemed so frightening, edgy and daring. When we were all pretending to be mad, bad and dangerous to know. Now it's all wrapped up in a glossy package, it just reminds me that we were all pretending.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:13 PM on September 5, 2008 [4 favorites]

Well, =you= were pretending. I was a fat nerd with a hard-core fetish problem I worked through with a steady diet of comic books and Oreily manuals. I wore trench coats and hawaiian shirts, and I built the future, one web server at a time. You were probably the one who danced with me at the Poetry Slam Nationals, matching my awkward steps, making them into something awesome. The nineties happened, they were better than advertised, and they were a fuck of a lot better than this.

Now I know how old hippies feel. Sucks.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:22 PM on September 5, 2008 [18 favorites]

And crawling, on the planet's face,
some insects, called the human race.
Lost in time, and lost in space... and meaning.
posted by furtive at 11:24 PM on September 5, 2008 [2 favorites]

i also have to take issue with something in the trailer.

"AN INSTANT CULT CLASSIC."

To my mind, there is nothing "instant" about a cult classic. A cult film, by definition, is one that languishes in obscurity until it is rediscovered by an audience that appreciates it. It may be for camp value, for absurdity, maybe it's better than the reviews or has a comic value unintended by its makers. But a one doesn't set out to make a "cult classic." Every film I have seen with that express intention is far too self aware to qualify. If you set out to make an Instant Cult Classic, you've bypassed the wonder of discovery, probably played up the camp and skimped on storytelling, and pretty much just made a bad movie. If you set out trying to make a movie "so bad it's good!"...It's probably just bad. You made a bad movie and you should feel bad.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:34 PM on September 5, 2008 [12 favorites]

Orge is in this as well. Move over, Slappy.
posted by Smart Dalek at 11:36 PM on September 5, 2008

What the hell was that?
posted by mannequito at 11:51 PM on September 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

To my mind, there is nothing "instant" about a cult classic. A cult film, by definition, is one that languishes in obscurity until it is rediscovered by an audience that appreciates it. It may be for camp value, for absurdity...

I know, it's so ironic right? almost as if a self-aware ironic hipster put that in there as a joke.
posted by delmoi at 12:23 AM on September 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Speaking of 1990s nostalgia, have you guys seen trailers for the Wackness
posted by delmoi at 12:26 AM on September 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

huh.
posted by Hello Dad, I'm in Jail at 1:14 AM on September 6, 2008

"The nineties happened, they were better than advertised, and they were a fuck of a lot better than this."

By "this" do you mean the movie trailer, the present decade, or your life now?
posted by longsleeves at 1:17 AM on September 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Well I liked it. I hadn't heard of Genetic Opera, and now I plan to see it.
Their marketing dept. should cut Slap*happy a check. :)
posted by -harlequin- at 1:56 AM on September 6, 2008

. . . I like this better than I thought I would.


. . . I don't know how I feel about this.
posted by cgc373 at 2:09 AM on September 6, 2008

I know, it's so ironic right? almost as if a self-aware ironic hipster put that in there as a joke.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that isn't the case, because that makes it worse and makes my head hurt.
posted by louche mustachio at 2:18 AM on September 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

This actually looks kind of good.
posted by parmanparman at 5:08 AM on September 6, 2008

I saw this post and was frightened that someone else beat my to my million-dollar idea, Repo Man: The Musical.
posted by waraw at 5:12 AM on September 6, 2008

*beat me to my, doh
posted by waraw at 5:12 AM on September 6, 2008

No mention of Anthony Stewart Head yet? That is the only thing, and I really mean the only thing about this movie that makes me a little interested in seeing it.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 5:14 AM on September 6, 2008

Needs more Doctrow.

And it looks nothing like what I envision cyberpunk to be.
posted by Sam.Burdick at 6:28 AM on September 6, 2008

Sold.
posted by Clay201 at 6:34 AM on September 6, 2008

Truly terrifying is the possibility that young people today will grow up and have nostalgia for this.
posted by avianism at 6:48 AM on September 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

This sure as hell beats out the usual crap in the cinemas at the moment. I'll go and see this. Looks great.
posted by saturnine at 7:11 AM on September 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Paris Hilton, Paris Hilton --
What a shame your fame is built on
Inherited wealth and upskirt flashes,
Plastic surgery and mascara'd lashes,
Illicit sex tapes and tiny pets,
Rumors of racism and cigarettes,
Stunt casting and Red Bull drinks;
You could be better than everyone thinks.
Sometime I wonder, darling heiress,
How great you could have been
If you weren't Paris.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:38 AM on September 6, 2008 [5 favorites]

...hypersexualized movie based off of a musical, with a playwright who also decided to star in both stage and screen adaptations?

Hedwig this isn't.
posted by rokusan at 7:43 AM on September 6, 2008

I don't know, I think it looks sorta ... good. Or at least interesting. For some reason it's reminding me of the Protomen, which I am only slightly ashamed to say I have been rocking in my car for like 2 weeks straight now.
posted by penduluum at 7:46 AM on September 6, 2008

strange days meets Rocky Horror?
posted by starman at 8:03 AM on September 6, 2008

Starring Paris Hilton. Singing. In S&M gear. And a wig. Doing drugs.

Speeding on the needle bliss!
posted by Artw at 8:03 AM on September 6, 2008

What saved Rocky Horror was the songs. From what I saw in that trailer sounded like any other " Hey Lets Rock Tonight " band from any generic late-night talk show.
posted by doctorschlock at 8:37 AM on September 6, 2008

Get off my lawn!
posted by aldus_manutius at 8:37 AM on September 6, 2008

OK. They got me. This panders to me along pretty much every imaginable dimension (RHPS! Ogre! 1996! GUNM ripoff! Paris Hilt...well, maybe not) and I am lapping it up.
posted by xthlc at 9:05 AM on September 6, 2008

You walk a tightrope when you do something like this, and I'm not sure (from what I'm seeing here) that this film is walking it successfully. One of my favorite shows right now is "Metalocalypse," which totally nails every cliche of black/death/heavy metal you can think of (and a few more related cliches besides), but also serves as a love letter to all this stuff, and produces material that is somehow ridiculous and awesome at the same time. (A recent highlight is here.) In other words, it acknowledges what's trite and goofy about its chosen genre while showing you what's great about it, and (trickiest of all) while showing you that more often than not it's the same thing.

The linked-to musical number from REPO! doesn't do that, mostly because the music is lame, and not very evocative of the kind of music that should go with this genre. I mean, they could have gone the other way and had it all sound like "Oklahoma!" coming out of the mouths of goth dudes and suicide girls, and that could have been pretty great, actually. Instead, it's this bland, generic song that might be a parody of old school musicals or contemporary rock or might just not be all that good, and I can't tell, and that's not a good sign. My concern is not that this will suck, but that it should actually be a cult classic, but will instead just be kind of a weird misfire of murky intent.

However, I have hope for the scenes with Anthony Stewart Head, because he is awesome.

Plus, God help me, but...does Paris Hilton look good like this? I think I need a shower for thinking that, but there you go, and I'm not just putting that out there in an "I'd ____ it" way, either, I'm genuinely curious: Does she? Or is something wrong with me?

Terribly, terribly wrong?
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:09 AM on September 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this looks like campy, stupid, fun. I don't get the outrage.
posted by 23skidoo at 9:13 AM on September 6, 2008

Well it's a Lions Gate film so you know it's going to be good.
posted by nola at 9:25 AM on September 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Does she? Or is something wrong with me?

No, I'd have to say if this had been her look, she'd have had a decidedly different fan base.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 9:29 AM on September 6, 2008

Am I allowed to masturbate to this?
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 10:04 AM on September 6, 2008

Hey man, it's a still a free country, at least more or less. Masturbate to whatever you want.

Yeah, Paris Hilton looked pretty good like that. Do you really think it was her singing though? I recall her having one of the most uninspiring voices ever, and that wasn't half bad.

Wasn't half good, either, but better than I expected.
posted by Caduceus at 10:39 AM on September 6, 2008

This looks awesomely stupid, and stupidly awesome. I'll go see it.
posted by empath at 10:53 AM on September 6, 2008

I agree with sarurnine. Even if it's shit, at least it's original.
posted by Brittanie at 11:13 AM on September 6, 2008

Simultaneously seductive and repellent. I'll watch it.
posted by A dead Quaker at 11:14 AM on September 6, 2008

Looks like South of Market. I would say it looks like SOMA the first weekend after the government checks go out at the beginning of the month, but who am I kidding? It looks like that almost every day and night of the week.

Except there's one part about this that all these effete creative types forget. If you're a junkie you generally don't have thousands of dollars in expensive leather fetish wear. That shit usually gets sold off before you sink to fucking for your dope.

And there isn't anyone singing about it, down there.
posted by loquacious at 11:50 AM on September 6, 2008

"The nineties happened, they were better than advertised, and they were a fuck of a lot better than this."

By "this" do you mean the movie trailer, the present decade, or your life now?"

That's the question, isn't it? My life is demonstrably better now, by every objective measure...and yet I get nostalgic for the 90s. The music, the freedom of being in my 20s (and being about 80 pounds lighter), and still being able to enjoy Star Wars without having to defend it. It's like I would be happier if I could take my life now -- my job, my wife -- and transplant it to about 1992.

I try not to think too much about the deeper implications of that.
posted by mgrichmond at 12:55 PM on September 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Do you really think it was her singing though? I recall her having one of the most uninspiring voices ever, and that wasn't half bad.

I think it's really her, yeah, but with a lot of production. I mean, all she's really doing is that breathy-whispery thing that Britney did to approximate singing most of the time, and that's not really that hard to pull off. The backing vocals see her through the tough parts, until that bit where's called upon to shriek "alllliiiiiiivvvveee" (I think it was?), and that doesn't work out so good. I don't know this play at all, but if she gets stuck doing a ballad eventually, that could be...unfortunate.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:05 PM on September 6, 2008

MetaFilter: Simultaneously seductive and repellent.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 1:32 PM on September 6, 2008

Hey, I'll watch it.

Paris should wear her hair like that all the time.
posted by bettafish at 1:36 PM on September 6, 2008

Needs actual music.

On the other hand, possibly the best use of Paris Hilton outside of a John McCain callout.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 1:51 PM on September 6, 2008

um. did she just share needles with that girl lying in the alley?
posted by sexyrobot at 2:21 PM on September 6, 2008

Woof.
posted by Artful Codger at 4:06 PM on September 6, 2008

"AN INSTANT CULT CLASSIC."

To my mind, there is nothing "instant" about a cult classic

Welcome to internet time. It hasn't been released yet and all the cool kids are over it by last week. But seriously, your observation, so Usenet.

-Giles (yes it is my real name and nothing to do with Anthony Head's previous characterisations, just so we're clear)
posted by Sparx at 6:00 PM on September 6, 2008

Pendulum: I saw the Protomen live about a week and a half ago, and despite all the apparent silliness of the concept of a Mega Man rock opera, it was pretty damn solid. I wait for the next album.
posted by mephron at 4:57 PM on September 7, 2008

Here are your draw points:

1. Sarah Brightman, Ogre, Paul Sorvino, Anthony Stewart Head and Alexa Vega singing/acting IN THE SAME MOVIE.

2. The director is Darren Lynn Bousman, who brought us Saw 2, 3, and 4.

3. Horror icon Bill Moseley is in it. Playing the brother of Ogre's character. And singing.

4. The soundtrack includes performances by David J (Bauhaus), Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets) Melora Creager (Rasputina), Richard Patrick (Filter), Clown (Slipknot), and Poe...among others. And there is an in-film cameo by Joan Jett.

My point is this...Paris Hilton is the LEAST of reasons why this is going to be awesome.
posted by deusdiabolus at 12:36 PM on September 9, 2008 [2 favorites]