Deadline

Whatcha think?

- Audio commentary by Richard O’Brien and Patricia Quinn

- Deleted Musical Scenes and Outtakes

- Alternate Credit Ending and Misprint Ending

- Rocky Horror Double Feature Video Show

- Beacon Theater, New York City “Time Warp” Music Video

- Trivia Track

- Don’t Dream It, Be It: The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast Part I

- An-tic-i-pation: The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast Part II

- Mick Rock’s Picture Show

- Pressbook and Poster Gallery

- Rocky-oke: Sing It!

How’s that for ya?

Source: Blu-ray

It’s so hard to describe Repo! and I think that’s where many critics have given up on it and had made them think it’s a complete mess. Actually, it might be mute to describe it because whatever I think it is, it will be something reminiscent of something else for someone else. That’s the diving line right there. Repo! is so crazy, beautiful, and unique that many will be confused by what they see. Its okay, even its creators don’t mind if you don’t vibe with it, but it’s off-putting to see so many critics ripping on it for the silliest of reasons.

First of all, it is an opera. The typical musical, let’s say Rocky Horror Picture Show because that is what Repo! is constantly referred to as, features a few songs here and there to break up the dialogue. We’re used to that. In fact, musicals have been on a high as of late, but Repo! isn’t that, it’s practically 99% song over dialogue. The songs are magnificent. Featuring more songs than any six musicals put together, Repo! showcases some of the fun and musical ingenuity that will stick with the people that enjoy it. That’s another thing; I don’t think many mainstream critics dig the rock opera aspects. Most songs blur genres together, like “Chase the Morning” which features Sarah Brightman’s incredible voice against some dark Euro-pop hooks and industrial, NIN-influenced beats.

The songs compliment each character perfectly. “Seventeen” is a punk styled song that has Shilo (Alexa Vega) releasing some angst against her dad. I’ve read where someone stated that this song is too much like an Avril Lavigne song and it was off-putting and unneeded. Huh? Shilo is young and brash. The song perfectly tells us her conflict and in a way that is her. She wouldn’t sing a ballad, not in the Repo! universe. Pretty much all of the songs are like this. In “Mark It Up” Bill Moseley sings annoyingly because his character is an asshole and doesn’t care. It’s perfect. Same with “Zydrate Anatomy“, perhaps the hit song from the soundtrack, features Grave Robber (Terrance Zdunich) in a cool, Marilyn Manson-inspired song that covers the backdrop to themes in the Repo! world. It’ll get stuck in your head for days.

With a collision of different musical styles, Bousman edits some scenes almost like a music video. I think in this film’s case, it works perfectly. The songs present themselves to be filmed in that manner and sometimes it adds much to the setting or character. With such an emphasis on songs, surprisingly the film is a visual wonder to look at. Each scene has so much going on; whether it is a DJing grandma, neon lighting, or infomercials playing on hovering TVs, Repo! is like if Blade Runner was directed by Trent Reznor. Adding to it all, is this visual playbill, most operas have a playbill ready for you, Repo! one ups that old time machismo, by having these comic book-like panels. These are used to tell a back story of a character, much like the playbill does, so one can enjoy the visuals and the music.

I really hope you’re either confused or interested in what I’ve been detailing, because even with all of that, the casting is the cherry on top of it all. Many of Bousman’s choices might seem like stunt casting but only until you see the film does it all fell natural. Anthony Head is the best of the bunch as he has the most duality in his character of Nathan Wallace/Repo Man to work with. He’s constantly shifting from loving father to raging monster, even in song, but it’s never campy or over-acted. His long work with Joss Whedon comes in handy here, I believe. Bill Moseley is a delight too, a raunchy, vulgar man, a prefect role for him to ham it up. Hell, I’ll say it-even Paris Hilton is good here playing Amber Sweet a surgery-addicted druggie, you’ll forget all of the tabloid stuff. But the surprise to me is Alexa Vega. I was blown away by her strength and vulnerability in the role of Shilo, but her singing is really impressive. Her duet with Anthony Head in “I Didn’t Know I Loved You So Much” is mature and rocking at the same time.

I know this review has been long-winded, but Repo! A Genetic Opera deserves it. The only negative I can say is that I wanted a little more of Blind Mag and maybe a little more with this character or that character, and then I thought, if I’m saying that, then I was so engrossed in the film, the characters and the music, the Bousman and company did their job. Now getting back to these critics that absolutely hate this, well, of course they do! They don’t get the film’s gothic but futuristic world. They don’t get the industrial, metal, opera songs. They don’t get anything because this film isn’t made for them. It’s made for me, the theatre kids, the art students, the Goths, or any other subculture you belong to. I have a strong feeling that this will be a main stay on the midnight screening circuit and I expect a few critical re-evaluations in the near future too.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 Jon: Have you seen the final cut? What can we expect or is it best to expect the unexpected?

Bill: I’ve seen it a couple of times, in fact about six weeks ago, I saw it when I was up in Montreal for the Fantasia Film Festival. I got to see Repo! on the big screen in front of a packed house, about six hundred people were there. The screening had been sold out, people were buying tickets for huge amounts on eBay and so there was a very enthusiastic bunch there. I guess I’m preaching to the choir but they were all excited, they heard about Repo! and seeing it on the big screen was a fantastic experience for all of us.

That’s the other thing, from what I gather the DVD will be out in January, but what I would absolutely, positively, recommend is how ever far you have to drive or get on a train or plane, and go see it on the big screen. It’s such an extravagant, large scale movie that I think it’ll play great on the big screen and I’m sure it’ll play fine on the DVD, but I would rather see Repo! on a forty foot screen than a forty inch TV. Actually, we were all together watching Repo!; it was Darren, Alexa Vega, Ogre, and I were doing the DVD commentary.  I think that also Darren was going to stick around and do a creator commentary with Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich, the co-creators of it. So we had an actor commentary that was really a lot of fun.

Jon: The theater experience really makes it special. Have you seen Rocky Horror Picture Show on the big screen?

Bill: Oh, heck yeah! In fact, it’s so funny because Terrance, his girlfriend, Darren, and I here in Santa Monica, California, there was every Saturday, a very hardcore bunch of Rocky Horror addicts. We showed up and got on stage in front of Rocky Horror and talked about Repo!

The Rocky Horror bunch is probably our core audience. The theatrical, the dramatic, those who love to dress up, talk back to the screen, everything about that the promiscuous (laughs), the anarchistic, those are the people that are going to love Repo! So we showed up at the Newhart, got on stage, showed the trailer and everybody got excited. I love Rocky Horror. I used to take my kid when she was eleven and twelve to it at the midnight screenings of it, I was the coolest dad at the school! 

Jon: You’ve been known to do some improvisation in films like TCM 2 and in the Devil’s Rejects. Did Darren allow any of that or was the script followed pretty close?

Bill: It was more encouraged than allowed, I think. A lot of times a script is like a blue print and sometimes when you start acting out a scene, you find out that they’re reality holes in it. Maybe the dialogue doesn’t make sense or other circumstances that couldn’t be predicted when they did the screenplay. So when that happens it’s always good to have smart actors that are plugged into what make sense and what doesn’t. When working with the director, writer, actor should be collaborative. Certainly people get paid more than others, but ultimately it’s the actors who got their face up there on the screen. We had recorded the whole opera, there was all singing and hardly any dialogue, so there were no chance at adding words since it was all pre-recorded.

There were defiantly some places in the story itself that we had to think quickly on our feet. For me, that’s what so exciting working with directors like Darren Bousman, like Tobe Hooper, Rob Zombie, and Tom Savini for that matter. These are guys who aren’t afraid of collaborating. If it doesn’t work they’ll tell you as they don’t beat around the bush, but if it does work, then they’re happy to have your contribution. That makes me happier than being told to “stand here”, look to the left at my count of three”, you know stuff like that. I don’t mind working like that, but it’s certainly not as much fun.

Jon: Talking about collaborating, what is it with Rob (Zombie), as you worked with him four times and soon on El Superbeasto, is it just that what you’ve been talking about or something else?

Bill: Yeah! The first time we got together was on House of 1000 Corpses and it was less improv because I think it was Rob’s first movie and I think he wanted to stay in control of it, which is perfectly understandable. It still was a lot of fun, a lot of fun! He still had some great ideas and we just had a ball working together. I think with Devil’s Rejects there was more improv, if you want to call it that because Rob was more comfortable now because he had the first one under his belt. I think he basically was more comfortable, especially by then as it was more of an ensemble cast. He was use to me, Sid (Haig), his wife (Sherrie Moon), so you know it ended up with the core of us Rejects, we all got along, there was shorthand and he didn’t have to go elaborate lengths to explain things. He knew what made us tick.

I know that the most improvisation was done on Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. When we began shooting the script was only like 70 pages long and there really wasn’t a third act. There was a, like you said, a lot of room for stuff to be added just to make it a 90 minute movie. The character I had, Chop Top, was so much fun that I disappeared into Chop Top and it wasn’t so much as improvising than it was Chop Top being Chop Top. I’ll stick this line in there; you know it was just Chop Top and not Bill trying to getting brownie points. (laughs)

Jon: A few years ago for you work in Devil’s Rejects, there was an online campaign to get you a Best Supporting Oscar nom for your role of Otis. Were you aware of it and how did you feel?

Bill: I was aware of it, I think someone on my message boards on my website alerted me to it and I was flattered.  I thought it was great, I really appreciated. It’s funny because like 20 years ago in US magazine, Joe Bob Briggs use to have a show on Turner or TMC, it was a drive-in movie show, he’s a funny guy, and hired us to write a funny story about an anti-Oscars or something. He said he would’ve nominated Chop Top for Best Supporting Actor (laughs). So you know, it was more tongue-in-cheek but I thought it was great, I’m sorry I only lost by 47 million votes!

Jon: Well, you should’ve defiantly gotten a nomination over Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man, 2005)…

Bill: So it’s a lot harder now, I don’t know if there is a bias against the horror genre per se. For the most part, you don’t get that type of recognition by working in the horror genre. The last one I remember is Kathy Bates getting one for Misery. That was a studio picture that was Stephen King, James Caan, there was a lot about it that lead itself, I think, to the academy voters watching the whole thing. The academy voters, who are largely actors, directors, and I think that they aren’t horror fans and couldn’t get through Devil’s Rejects (laughs).

Jon: Comedy never wins for acting, so saying that about horror is probably dead on.

Bill: It might be. I’m not done yet, so there might be more happy days ahead! (laughs)

Jon: Next year you have a lot of films coming out like Twisted Pictures The Tortured. How’s that going?

Bill: Great! We actually just wrapped that one and shot that up in Vancouver a couple of months ago. By the way, Vancouver is a beautiful city, I never been there before. I enjoyed it; I was teamed up again with one of the producers of Repo! Carl Mazzocone and of course, Mark Berg from Twisted Pictures, so it was nice to get invited back especially if you’re an actor because actors are like free agents. Acting can be an intense experience and to have people who want to work with you again is always a good sign (laughs). It’s a fantastic script; I don’t want to give much away. It was a great, great script and there are some fantastic actors in it and when it comes out, I’d be more than happy to talk about it then. It will probably come out July 2009.

Jon: Then you got The Graves with Tony Todd…

Bill: The Graves with Tony Todd was really fun and we shot that in Wickenburg Arizona in the summer and my scenes were in the daylight. This was summer in the desert and I think two out of the days I worked were over 108 degrees, so that was its own challenge. Yeah, so you know it was fun, there were beautiful women on the set, that’s always fun and the script was fun. The character I got to play, Caleb, was really a lot of fun. That should be a fan favorite.

Jon: You might not know this that Randy Blythe, the lead singer of Lamb of God was cast as an extra, and did you meet him?

Bill: I didn’t, but I knew about it, unfortunately, our parts didn’t overlap and in fact, this is the second time I worked with Tony Todd, the second movie and I still haven’t got the chance to work with him. In Night of the Living Dead, Tom Savini’s remake back in ’91, I played Johnny, Tony was part of the bunch in the house and I got killed before Barbara even got to the house. I missed him there. Hey that’s the other good reason to go to conventions, to meet him, I know Tony and he’s a great guy and we’re good pals.

Jon: I really want to thank you for spending time with me and Killer Film about Repo! and we look forward to seeing it and your films next year.

Bill: Thank you very much, I do appreciate it and your enthusiasm for the genre and I do know that Repo! is showing in Austin, Texas…

Jon: Yeah my other Killer Film half (Donny) will be there, I’m actually in Omaha, Nebraska…

Bill: Omaha! I looked up Omaha one time and I found that it meant “He who paddles against the current”…

Jon: We sure do there’s nothing but cornstalks here…

Bill: (laughs) Yeah, you know, Omaha is a great town. I grew up outside of Chicago. Well, thanks!

Jon: More importantly thank you.

Bill: My pleasure, see ya!

As with my Darren Lynn Bousman interview (reread it here) everyone’s excited about Repo! A Genetic Opera and we here at Killer Film are too. Moseley is a fun guy, with a love for what he does and perhaps more importantly, the fans. Keep coming back to Killer Film for more coverage of Repo! A Genetic Opera and be sure to check here for theater showings so you too can go see it!