Retro Review - Repo, The Genetic Opera

I have the wrong view of certain products sometimes and it turns out I miss on good things often as a result.

Repo came out in the heart of Saw's height, not that it's finished mind you, and at that moment I was more or less interested about it because it was advertised as a gimmick that didn't stick with me. Today, on a insanely warm sunday, I decided it was movie day so I went in my roommate collection (which is astounding by the way) and was looking for something I haven't seen yet. Something also that didn't need my full attention as I knew that I would wander off in the process. Repo, turns out was a great choice.

I'm mostly surprised by the movie, like I said my expectations were kinda low, since I thought it was a gimmick à la Hostel but Giles (Anthony Head) is a great actor and personnaly I think, a great stage actor so it was a plus. The DVD is stylish I gotta say, the menu is campy and comic book-y and this always is a plus in my book. I knew it was a musical, unlike many that went to see it in theaters and that never really bothered me, so this wasn't a factor. The problem with the musical part is that not all the actors are good at singing and not all the lines are written to be sung.

I personally thought that sometimes, it sounded off but then again I'm no musical expert. What surprised me though is the actors and actresses that appeared in the movie. Alexa Vega is a good young actress and showing that she can do other styles of role is nice to see. Paul Sorvino is a little typecast here but you know, he's good at these kind of role (plus his ''singing'' isn't so bad) and Paris Hilton was great. I mean, with this flick, she re-invented the meaning of loosing face in public. The biggest surprise was Sarah Brightman, a reputed singer and a good one at that involved in a horror movie is always nice to see.

I think that it's one of the factor that bothered me about the singing, a contrast of Sarah Brightman singing and then the other scene you get the Grave Robber, the difference is astounding. It's obvious I know but I thought it took charms aways from the movie.

There was an emmy nominated episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a couple of years ago, it was called ''Once more with feeling''. Joss Whedon had said at the time that it was one of the reason he continued the serie after the 5th season. It was a musical and a good one where unconventional lyrics meshed well with the narrative of the show and...well, sounded good. Repo reminds me a lot of that episode (Anthony Stewart being in both kinda helps too) and I think that the creators were hugely influenced by that episode. There's other influence obviously, like The Rocky Horror but the modern look and feel is more inclined with Once more with feeling.

All in all, it's a unique film, there's nothing (I know about anyway) out there that ressemble this so it's worth viewing and even owning for that matter. It's a great flick to put into the background when you feel like watching something... but not really.

Resident Evil

RE has been a focus for the evolution of horror into games. Back in 1996, when the first one came out on the Playstation, the mind of gamers were blown away by the quality and the ambience it brought to a medium that was never really ‘’horror-friendly’’.

Off course, it’s not the first horror themed game but it’s one of the first that really put you into it and scared the crap outta you. It was a true homage to western cinema, with references to George A. Romero’s zombie trilogy (Night/Dawn/Day of the dead), House of haunted hill and even Psycho. Sadly though, it also spawned movies based on the games, as the first was written and directed by Paul W. Anderson, which turned out an ok flick but not as good as it could’ve been, the only really good thing about it was the soundtrack composed by Marilyn Manson. Sequels (Apocalypse and Extinction) were released after that, both still written by Anderson but this time directed by his Second Unit Director, Alexander Witt and Russell Mulcahy respectively.

Mediocre at best as you can imagine but it doesn’t seem to stop the franchise, as the 4^th installment is in the pipes as they say. The rumors go as the return of Paul Anderson’s behind the camera and with a tentative title; Afterlife. Yep, the guy who made Mortal Kombat the movie is the man trusted with this huge franchise. So it kills me to see it go that way when Mr. Romero was first attached to write and direct the first on to begin with. As a matter of fact he did write a script but the producers refused it because it was too gory. Which is hilarious considering it’s about walking decomposing dead people eating the flesh of the living. Anyway, if you never had the chance to read the script Romero wrote for the movie, I strongly urge you to read it.

Very different, yet familiar with the game; the characters are there with slight changes as Chris is a Native American and Barry being an Afro American. The hunters are there along with Wesker’s Tyrant, heck if I remember right; even the Rocket Launcher is used to kill it at the end. It has cheesy dialogues but I seriously think it’s a direct homage to the now infamous voice acting from the first game.