OK, so it ain't Asian, but it's plenty shocking. I was attracted to the central conceit, that of a repo man who runs around unceremoniously ripping transplanted organs out of people who miss their payments (a trend we should be seeing any day now ...). I wasn't so sure about the rock opera dimension, and I really had my doubts about the presence of a certain Hotel heiress named after a big city in France. Yet somehow it all works. Sure some of the sappy scenes go on a bit too long, but hey, this is opera! It's all singing, all the time in this film, which actually works better for me than the standard musical format where people are talking one minute and singing the next. And what they're singing about is so dark and demented, it makes for ghastly fun. Who knew Paul Sorvino had such a great set of pipes! Bill Moseley has a small role as a psycho (of course), but the real star of the piece is Terrance Zdunich, one of the two creators of the original theatrical piece from which the film is adapted. He plays a gothy graverobber and has the best scenes in the picture (apart from the numerous repossessions).So take a chance on this one. Quite original and a bloody feast for the eyes and ears.
