Repo Men: Stole A Plot?

The upcoming film, Repo Men (due for release March 19) is a mainstream film for the ages. It takes place in a futuristic New York City where sick people in need of healthy organs can get easy organ financing (anything you could possibly need) to keep them alive; then, if you can't keep up with your payments, your organ is repossessed, whether you are willing or not. While the topic of this movie is creative, innovative, and edgy, it is not the first of its kind.

The cult phenomenon film REPO! The Genetic Opera came out late 2008, and featured an all-star cast that ranged from Spy Kids to Cats. True to its name, it is an opera with very few spoken lines, singing throughout the 97 minutes. Also set in a futuristic, yet dystopic, New York City, an epidemic of organ failures forced a company called Geneco into the public, loaning out their artificial organs with easy-peasy financing, and (again) if payments were missed, the menacing Repo Man would come (as the Repo Man himself said, "Ninety days delinquent gets you Repo treatment.")

As a fan of Terrance Zdunich's and Darren Smith's musical madness, I was half enraged and half intrigued in reading about this flashy update. It is very clear that the concept of the futuristic organ financing and the violent repossessions of them have been stolen, but parts from the classic plot have been removed, clearly for sake of not being sued by Twisted Pictures for copyright infringement. For instance, Graverobber is no more, Geneco's owner (Rotti Largo) and his greedy children (Pavi, Luigi, and Amber Sweet) have been removed, the scandal that forced the Repo Man into his nightmarish life no longer exists, and most importantly, the heroines of Shilo Wallace and Blind Mag have been eighty-sixed from the entire storyline. Even the look of the films are similar, both sporting barcodes as logos, and being shot in a gradient that darkens the colours, makes the characters seem paler, and makes the deep red colour of the blood absolutely pop.

Formerly addressed as Reposession Mambo, this sleek ripoff of the cult classic is bound to do well among those who have never heard of REPO! The Genetic Opera. But die-hard fans of this nearly completely fan-run original will be sure to personally boycott this new movie and, as only a REPO! fan could, continue to "EAT THE REPO".