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Repo the Genetic Opera
Repo! The Genetic Opera - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Lionsgate

Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
By: Charity VanDeberg
Concert Editor

The official soundtrack for Repo! The Genetic Opera is now available as a digital release, nearly a month before the film is scheduled to hit a limited number of U.S. theaters; a bit of a gamble for a movie that has received very little official advertising. Unlike typical soundtracks with popular songs by known artists, musicals and rock operas have the unique challenge of presenting songs that only really make sense in context with the storyline. So, how can someone who hasn't seen the movie and may have never heard of the play pick up the Repo! soundtrack and know or care about what is going on? What seems a daunting challenge is immediately forgotten by the time we hear Terrance Zdunich's Danny Elfman-like voice telling the frightful story of the "Genetic Repo Man."

The film is set in a not-so-distant future, in which a worldwide epidemic of organ failures has devastated the planet, with a biotech company known as GeneCo offering organ transplants for a price. Those who miss their payments to the company are consequently scheduled for repossession of their organs by the Repo Man. Repo! The Genetic Opera boasts an intriguing cast list featuring Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Alexa Vega (Spy Kids), Anthony Stewart Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Bill Moseley (The Devil's Rejects), Ogre (Skinny Puppy), Terrance Zdunich (who also co-wrote), world famous soprano Sarah Brightman (Andrew Lloyd Webber's muse and ex-wife), and Paris Hilton. Yes, they all sing. There is even a cameo by Joan Jett. Add a throbbing industrial and gothic score and music and vocal support by Richard Patrick (Filter), Steven Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Clown (Slipknot), Ray Luzier (Army of Anyone), Brian Young (David Lee Roth's band), Richard Fortus (Guns n' Roses), Sonny Moore (First to Last), David J and Daniel Ash (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets), Blasko (Ozzy Osborne), Tommy Clefetus (Rob Zombie's band), Melora Creager (Rasputina) and Poe, and you get one incredible all original soundtrack.

You will fall in love with Head as the haunted Nathan Wallace/the Repo Man. His gentle voice captures so beautifully the heartbreak of a widowed single father doing his best to protect his teenage daughter, played by Alexa Vega, from the dangerous world. Guilt, fear, and anger fill every note as he longs for a woman he could not save. Then, the Repo Man creeps into his voice like Mr. Hyde from the shadows. Growling and howling, he threatens the night with blood, pain, and death. Only the coldest heart will not melt during "Night Surgeon" as he is forced to face who he is, remembering every death, especially that of his dear wife.

Paul Sorvino plays Rotti Largo, the patriarch of the wealthiest family in town and president of GeneCo. Although his normal singing voice is unremarkable, it is the vibrato of the high notes that injects a welcome classical tone to the commanding role. In his two solos, "Things You See in a Graveyard" and "Gold," Sorvino delivers his private confessions and villainous plans as dramatically as any Goodfellas monologue, highlighted by his classically trained operatic tenor.

Ogre is brilliant in "Mark It Up" as the sniveling lady-killer Pavi Largo, brother to Paris Hilton's oversexed surgery addict Amber Sweet, and the overbearing Luigi, played by Bill Moseley. In the show-stopping "Zydrate Anatomy," Zdunich's Grave-Robber does double duty as narrator and drug dealer to the scalpel sluts. Alexa Vega, as Nathan Wallace's daughter Shilo, is in turns annoying and sweet, but any concerns with her vocal skills are assuaged by her lovely duet with Head, "I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much." Sarah Brightman lives up to the hype as Blind Mag, the opera star who wants nothing more than to escape her contract.

Every song on the Repo! The Genetic Opera soundtrack is fantastic, benefiting from a wealth of available talent. There is such a fine line between sincerity and satire in the film industry and it would have been easy to throw black nail polish on a poodle and declare it industrial, but the makers of Repo! knew that true sincerity came only with involvement of people who defined the genre. Blending old fashioned operatic arias, silky gothic graveyard confessions, grinding industrial beats, and a science fiction/horror storyline, this is a truly original soundtrack that should be heard.