2008 was as much a time of upheaval and change as anytime in American history. And usually these times of upheaval and change are accompanied by changes in prevalent art forms. So when Repo! the Genetic Opera followed in the footsteps of Hair (and Tommy) and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, it wasn't a big surprise - though with the creators' intent to not do traditional advertising, its own growth was much slower than perhaps it would've been beyond the traveling road shows.
But Repo! the Genetic Opera is not an opera for just anyone. It's an opera for those who want to see a former Spy Kid playing innocent, naive, but very strong in a babydoll harajuka style. It's for those that yearned to see Giles go dark as Ripper as Anthony Stewart Head turned into a Legal Assassin. And it was for those who love Sarah Brightman and Paul Sorvino and weren't afraid to risk seeing something unusual in order to follow their art.
Repo! the Genetic Opera is about dystopia. It's about the idea that we live on an island atop dead bodies we can't see and though there is death all around us- we want more. We want to Chase the Morning. It's a movie that hit for those in 2008 that were living in a cycle of endless calamity and war (a cycle ongoing) and needed something to turn to that spoke on such a subject in a stylized and somewhat graphic way. And it's a movie that they think about to this day, somewhere in the back of their brains.
Thought it is imperfect, even in its imperfection- there is a vision. And it's easy to see why actors follow the creators of Repo! the Genetic Opera into future works like Devil's Carnival. Because it's distinct, its satisfactory, and it's for sure a ride that you won't take from anyone else. So grab your glass vial and point where you want it to go against your anatomy and spark so you're ready for surgery (surgery).
