Accidental Hiatus...

Seemingly, I have been on one! The reason being Uni work and personal life issues, however now things seem back to normal, I shall be updating soon, promise!

Repo! The Genetic Opera (Bousman, 2008)

From Saw II, III and VI director Darren Lynn Bousman and originally a stage play, Repo! The Genetic Opera is a rock-opera set in 2056. Setting the scene with some snazzy comic book-style graphics, something used throughout the movie as a storytelling device, after an epidemic of organ failure Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino) set up GeneCo, a company which offers replacement organs. However, they come at a price - if the recipient is unable to keep up their repayments, the Repo Man comes to repossess their organs. 17 year old Shilo (Alexa Vega) is kept under house arrest by her father Nathan (Anthony Stewart Head) due to her apparent blood disease inherited from her dead mother, Marni. Unbeknownst to Shilo, her father is leading a double life, and is actually the fearsome Repo Man.

Largo discovers he is dying, and as an ex-lover of Marni, he pinpoints Shilo as a possible heir to GeneCo, rather than his own offspring, Luigi (Bill Moseley), Amber (Paris Hilton) and Pavi (Nivek Ogre) and offers her a cure for her blood disease. Her estranged godmother, operatic superstar Blind Mag (Sarah Brightman) urges her not to take up the offer in fear of Shilo making the same mistakes that she did - when GeneCo gave her new eyes, she fell under the control of Largo, trapped in a contract to be the voice of GeneCo.

The whole story is played out through song, with a mixing of opera with industrial sound to create a unique rock opera, with the final scenes part of the GeneCo's 'Genetic Opera' show, something of a fucked up Moulin Rouge. We're also given narration by a Grave Robber (Terrance Zdunich), who we see straightaway to introduce the Repo Man in 'Genetic Repo Man' and who gives the backstory slickly in '21st Century Cure'. The comic-book style illustrations create some variety and give a modern take on the operatic melodrama.

Despite a comparitively modest budget of $8.5million, the visuals are incredible, from the futuristic dystopia to the gothic interiors of Nathan and Shilo's home. The cinematography fits in with the comic-book aesthetic with colour-saturated bright cinematography. The costume choices are wonderfully theatrical, with corsets and gothic attire mixed with futuristic elements and creepy gas masks, alongside Shilo's gothic style and the badass leather gear and mask of the Repo Man.

The strength of the ensemble cast is essential to the movie, and don't fail to disappoint, and the chorus prove essential, particularly in standout song 'Zydrate Anatomy', a catchy introduction to backstreet surgery and the drug Zydrate. The voices range from Sorvino's operatic tones to Head's rockier vocal delivery. Most of the cast have musical backgrounds of some kind, notably Brightman, who is one of the best selling opera artists - and as a side note, looks amazing considering she's 50. Best known for her appearances in the Spy Kids franchise, Vega plays 17 year old Shilo, who despite being bald and blood-diseased, still has plenty of good old teenage angst. 'Seventeen' is the perfect girly rock and roll song, and even festures Joan Jett as the bassist in the sequence in which Shilo's bedroom is turned into her very own rock concert with awesome lighting and smoke machines. 

As for the rest of the cast, ever since Giles' moonlighting acoustic tendencies in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, I've always been a massive fan of Anthony Head - so this was rather an aural delight, with his incredible vocal skills put to easily the best use in his career. Switching from tortured, lonely and overly posessive father to the psychopathic Repo Man, particularly in his performance Legal Assassin, he creates a split-personality man on the edge, quite frankly terrifying in his madness. Running around during 'Thankless Job', a side of his personality (which he later describes as 'the monster') clearly revels in his work. The scenes of violence pull no punches, and we see organs being brutally ripped from the living bodies of Repo Man's victims, with plenty of stylistically over-bright crimson blood. This movie doesn't hold back on the gore - and when considering Bousman's involvement with the Saw franchise, this is unsurprising.

As Amber Sweet, Paris Hilton stands up well, playing a bratty, knife-addicted diva, perhaps not far removed from her general persona, but in this case her caricatured version of this character works well, and she can actually hold a tune pretty well and gives a lot to the role. A special mentions has to be given to Pavi (Nivek Ogre, who sings in Skinny Puppy), who wears womens faces to cover his own scarred skin, creating something that looks incredibly freakish and monstrous looking. Oh, and it's got Bill Moseley as a sociopathic, agressive brother with an obsessive compulsion to change his shirt on a regular basis.

Repo! The Genetic Opera offers something the mainstream film market fails to offer - uniqueness. The mishmash of many different musical and visual styles makes it exciting and the strong cast pull off the fast-paced, ever-changing storyline. Mixing horror, sci-fi and opera, it's Rocky Horror meets Saw meets Blade Runner, a postmodern feast of visuals and sound - a perfect cult classic. 

10/10

Just a little update...

I apologise for the lack of stuff recently, I've been embarking on the dreaded dissertation and generally running around the country and having general adventures!

Coming Soon!

Plus some TV related titbits!

Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)

This could well be the most pointless review in existence - chances are, you've all seen it (if you haven't, shame on you!). And read umpteen million reviews about it. But tonight, for the first time in quite a while, I rewatched one of the movies that will always have a lasting impression on me - and memories of hiding behind a pillow whilst watching it in my early teenage years. So take this as more of an appreciation, rather than a review, if you will. And it'll also be quite short. And would have perhaps been more appropriate a few days ago. But I'm rarely appropriate, even at the best of times.

The film opens with a young Michael Myers killing his older sister - all shown from his POV, without knowing the viewpoint is that of a six year old boy, which makes it all the more disturbing when he is revealed. And, a horror film staple, we even get to see some boobies before the movie's even properly started. Hooray! Fast-forward to fifteen years later, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence), Michael's psychiatrist, is on his way to the institution Michael has spent the last decade and a half in, but finds that his patient has escaped. Michael makes his way to Haddonsfield, his old hometown, and begins to stalk local teenager Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends. On Halloween night, whilst Laurie is babysitting, Michael watches...

The film may not exhibit the most perfectionist style of filmmaking - with notable continuity errors and general goofs (how many did you spot?). However, there are some brilliant choices made with the shooting - from the shaky camerawork, to the POV shots, giving a genuinely creepy, voyeuristic feel...and the way Michael appears and disappears seamlessly in the background of shots...eerie as fuck. One thing every true classic horror movie needs is a score - check! The repeated Halloween theme is a perfect contribution to the tension-building moments.

Taking inspiration from Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), Halloween competently builds tension - in a similar way to the former, through subtleties rather than the constant, in your face jumpy moments commonplace in many modern 'slashers'. Although it has all the elements seen in your common slasher, it goes beyond that, and is far, far scarier than the gorefests that followed. Despite being over 30 years old, it hasn't become dated and stands the test of time as a true classic horror. At fourteen, I hid behind my pillow - and now at twenty two, I was still tempted to do the same...

10/10

Happy Halloween Weekend!

Yeah, for me Halloween lasts the whole weekend - any excuse to cover myself in blood, I'm in! No film/tv relevance here, just a self-obsessed picture of my costume/fake bloodiness, but enjoy the weekend! :)

The Honeymoon Killers (Kastle, 1970)

Possibly my favourite place to buy movies is the CeX chain (and not just because I call it 'the cex shop'...). And one of my most recent purchasing sprees included this 25p bargain. The Honeymoon Killers is based on the true events of a notorious duo of 'lonely hearts killers' in the 1940s.

Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler) is an overweight, lonely nurse, but when her friend signs her up to a lonely hearts club, where she corresponds with Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco). The pair embark upon a relationship, despite the discovery that Ray makes a living conning women by seducing them. As the pair pose as brother and sister to draw in the lonely spinsters, Martha's jealousy at seeing Ray with other women grows. When Ray marries a pregnant woman who attempts to sleep with him, Martha gives Ray some pills to give her, which result in her death (and a hilariously cheesy 'dead face'. I love 'dead faces'.). 

Little time is spent focusing on the building of the pair's relationship, by 20 minutes in, Beck has decided to leave her elderly mother and move to New York to be with Ray. Much is left out, with the story skipping between women very quickly - no sooner has one target been left or killed, Ray seems to have another lined up - meaning much more focus is given to Ray and Martha. Their relationship is tumultuous, to say the least. Seemingly, all Martha wants is Ray's love, but he seems more interested in conning the women than giving her attention - and tries to drown herself when she believes he is truly interested in another woman. Although her hapless swimming is pretty amusing, the moments where she is actually drowning are quite disturbing, especially the vocal sound collage.

The quick turnover of victims is understandable, as similarly with 1967's Bonnie and Clyde (Penn), the viewer is set in a position to identify with the couple, mainly Martha, rather than the victims - something less common within the horror genre. Stoler has an incredibly creepy face, and as Martha she provides some real menace, all driven by her love for Ray. It's only after Martha's attempted drowning that Ray shows a softer side towards her, and tries to appease her by fulfilling her wish that they move to the suburbs - but, unsurprisingly, their life on the straight and narrow doesn't last long. As for Ray, he's the kind of character that has no real likeable qualities other than when he saves Martha from a watery death. Plus, Lo Bianco's accent combined with bad articulation makes it sometimes hard to make out what he's saying.

Compared to the aforementioned Bonnie and Clyde, The Honeymoon Killers gives a much less glamorous perspective on a criminal relationship - Martha is needy and psychotic, and the couple are often at each other's throats over one thing or another. The black and white, high contrast style gives a gritty, dark feel and the casting of Stoler, a large, unconventional looking actress is a far cry from beauty Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker. The kills are a little underwhelming, especially the clunky hammer to the head of

Things get an extra dose of fucked-up with the murder of Daphne Delphine, and the drowning of her young daughter - pretty harrowing stuff. At times, The Honeymoon Killers is creepy and unnerving - but its downfall is the inability to keep the tension up. The building of suspense that shines in some moments doesn't manage to continue throughout the narrative, and gets dull at times. The story itself is an interesting one, and the films Lonely Hearts (Robinson, 2006) and Deep Crimson (Ripstien, 1996) are also based on the same story. Unfortunately, the execution is flawed. A few disturbing sequences make it watchable with hints of greatness that could have been, but the end result seems more melodrama than menace, with a less than believable love story and the odd scattering of black humour. But never mind, it cost less than a Dime bar.

5/10

Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009)

Ahh, zombies. In their endeavour to, well, to just pretty much eat everyone, the whole of America has fallen foul of the flesh-eating fiends. Apart from an unlikely hero from Columbus, Ohio. Zombieland falls under the umbrella sub-genre of the 'zom-com', perfected in 2004's Brit flick Shaun of the Dead, where comedy horror gets the undead treatment. Our hero, known only as 'Columbus' (Jesse Eisenberg...yeah, him again!), is a shy, introverted college student with a wealth of phobias, who spends his evenings eating pizza and playing World of Warcraft. When the zombie apocalpyse strikes, he decides to man up and make his way back home to Ohio, following his own rules for surviving.

Seemingly Eisenberg is a hot topic on this blog, with this being his third appearance - and second in a film that ends in 'land' (Adventureland is the other, FYI). Clearly the awkward teenager is a role he fits in comfortably, and he certainly gives current leader of the socially challenged character typecast, Michael Cera, a run for his money. Columbus is certainly an unlikely survivor, when his hottie next door neighbour (Amber Heard) joins the undead army and decides she wants a piece his survival seems more lucky than skilful - including hitting her with the top of a toilet cistern and apologising for jamming her foot in the door.

Thankfully, Columbus's rules serve him well, including the essentials, such as "Beware of Bathrooms" (Rule #3) and "Double Tap" (Rule #2). Wandering the highway with just a suitcase (Rule #7 - travel light!), he gets picked up by 'Tallahassee' (Woody Harrelson), a ruthless, tough-guy motherfucker...who'll do anything to get his hands on a Twinkie. Harrelson's appearance in the movie was apparently on the basis of four counditions - including the movie being environmentally conscious. After an awesome face-off with some fatties at the supermarket, Columbus and Tallahassee discover 'Wichita' (Emma Stone), whose younger sister 'Little Rock' (Abigail Breslin) has apparently been bitten by a zombie. After a seemingly heart-wrenching moment, the girls quickly turn the tables on the duo, revealing Little Rock's bite as fake, and run off with their truck and guns. They're girls with balls, something often missing within the horror genre. Columbus and Tallahassee stumble across the girls a little later on, and the four create an unlikely alliance, driving across the country.

The zombie style nods more to the blood-soaked crazies of the 'new zombie' film generation, as opposed to the slow, overbearing types in the old-school zombie flicks. There's plenty of blood and guts, with some damn awesome kills - particularly from Tallahassee, who takes great pleasure in the more inventive means of zombie disposal. The comic-book style of the 'rules' being shown on the screen gives a modern, videogame feel, and the opening credits look like they should be in 3D. The random interlude of 'Zombie Kill of the Week' is also a fantastic moment.

Despite the situation, the characters also manage to have some fun - taking out their anger on a new age store by destroying its contents. At times, being seemingly the only living humans on earth actually seems like a lot of fun. When the foursome seek refuge into a famous Hollywood star's house, they also find a fifth survivor - none other than Bill Murray, disguising himself as a zombie to avoid the attention of the real things. His appearance creates some of the most comedically genius moments in the movie, giving the group a temporary escape from the impending zombie doom, and the revelation that Tallahassee is Murray's biggest fan. There are also a fair few other pop-culture references, including a zombie Charlie Chaplin impersonator and references to Murray's appearance in the classic Ghostbusters.

Although not quite standing up to the innovative and original Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland definitely gives a hilarious take on the zombie revival of the 00's. Loads of 'zom', plenty of 'com' and a stand-up cast make it a great example of how comedy horror should be. Although a word of warning - those with a clown phobia may well find themselves hiding behind the sofa at around 1hr 14....

8/10

Trailer: