Comments on: Please don't tell William Gibson this exists.

Please don't tell William Gibson this exists.

Slap*Happy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:26:52 -0800

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.

By: phrontist

phrontist — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:43:24 -0800

Statement. Statement? Statement!

By: rivenwanderer

rivenwanderer — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:47:02 -0800

Wait, wait. Are the 90's "retro" already?

By: Clave

Clave — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:47:29 -0800

Ick.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:53:26 -0800

Wao.

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:13:38 -0800

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.

By: Slap*Happy

Slap*Happy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:22:46 -0800

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.

By: furtive

furtive — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:24:26 -0800

And crawling, on the planet's face, some insects, called the human race. Lost in time, and lost in space... and meaning.

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:34:34 -0800

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.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:36:48 -0800

Orge is in this as well. Move over, Slappy.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:51:49 -0800

What the hell was that?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:23:34 -0800

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.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:26:11 -0800

Speaking of 1990s nostalgia, have you guys seen trailers for the Wackness

By: Hello Dad, I'm in Jail

Hello Dad, I'm in Jail — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:14:00 -0800

huh.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:17:46 -0800

"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?

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:56:38 -0800

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. :)

By: cgc373

cgc373 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:09:53 -0800

. . . I like this better than I thought I would. . . . I don't know how I feel about this.

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:18:51 -0800

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.

By: parmanparman

parmanparman — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:08:07 -0800

This actually looks kind of good.

By: waraw

waraw — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:12:24 -0800

I saw this post and was frightened that someone else beat my to my million-dollar idea, Repo Man: The Musical.

By: waraw

waraw — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:12:43 -0800

*beat me to my, doh

By: Four-Eyed Girl

Four-Eyed Girl — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:14:26 -0800

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.

By: Sam.Burdick

Sam.Burdick — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:28:48 -0800

Needs more Doctrow. And it looks nothing like what I envision cyberpunk to be.

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:34:21 -0800

Sold.

By: avianism

avianism — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:48:34 -0800

Truly terrifying is the possibility that young people today will grow up and have nostalgia for this.

By: saturnine

saturnine — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:11:20 -0800

This sure as hell beats out the usual crap in the cinemas at the moment. I'll go and see this. Looks great.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:38:06 -0800

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.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:43:24 -0800

...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.

By: penduluum

penduluum — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 07:46:59 -0800

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.

By: starman

starman — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:03:03 -0800

strange days meets Rocky Horror?

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:03:20 -0800

Starring Paris Hilton. Singing. In S&M gear. And a wig. Doing drugs. Speeding on the needle bliss!

By: doctorschlock

doctorschlock — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:37:10 -0800

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.

By: aldus_manutius

aldus_manutius — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:37:58 -0800

Get off my lawn!

By: xthlc

xthlc — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:05:23 -0800

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.

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:09:24 -0800

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?

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:13:22 -0800

Yeah, this looks like campy, stupid, fun. I don't get the outrage.

By: nola

nola — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:25:00 -0800

Well it's a Lions Gate film so you know it's going to be good.

By: Durn Bronzefist

Durn Bronzefist — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:29:40 -0800

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.

By: Bathtub Bobsled

Bathtub Bobsled — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:04:25 -0800

Am I allowed to masturbate to this?

By: Caduceus

Caduceus — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:39:25 -0800

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.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:53:50 -0800

This looks awesomely stupid, and stupidly awesome. I'll go see it.

By: Brittanie

Brittanie — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:13:21 -0800

I agree with sarurnine. Even if it's shit, at least it's original.

By: A dead Quaker

A dead Quaker — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:14:41 -0800

Simultaneously seductive and repellent. I'll watch it.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:50:20 -0800

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.

By: mgrichmond

mgrichmond — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:55:20 -0800

"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.

By: kittens for breakfast

kittens for breakfast — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:05:18 -0800

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.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:32:17 -0800

MetaFilter: Simultaneously seductive and repellent.

By: bettafish

bettafish — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:36:19 -0800

Hey, I'll watch it. Paris should wear her hair like that all the time.

By: CheeseDigestsAll

CheeseDigestsAll — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:51:15 -0800

Needs actual music. On the other hand, possibly the best use of Paris Hilton outside of a John McCain callout.

By: sexyrobot

sexyrobot — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:21:55 -0800

um. did she just share needles with that girl lying in the alley?

By: Artful Codger

Artful Codger — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:06:27 -0800

Woof.

By: Sparx

Sparx — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:00:45 -0800

"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)

By: mephron

mephron — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:57:52 -0800

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.

By: deusdiabolus

deusdiabolus — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:36:31 -0800

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.