Repo! The Genetic Opera (DVD, 2009)

If I told you that the new-age singer, Sarah Brightman, a star of Law and Order, Paul Sorvino, Anthony Head from the Buffy series, and heiress Paris Hilton appeared in an opera together you would probably think I was under the influence of an illegal substance. Unless, of course, if you are a fan of the producers of other remarkable (?!) movies, most notably, the Saw series.
I am at once hypnotized by the performances and repulsed by the gore in this movie. The singing was amazing even if the songs were not.
The story is about a man, Rotti Largo who owns a company that sells organs for transplants. When recipients cannot make payments, he sends out Shilo's father, Nathan to reposess the organ. When Shiloh was born, Rotti slipped some poison to Nathan who unwittingly gave it to her mother while she was giving birth. Nathan has two horrid sons, Luigi and Pavi, and one daughter (Paris), Amber who are trying to be in position to take over the company when Rotti dies. Of course, there is one character who seems to know what's going on, Graverobber, played by Terrance Zdunich, who collects an addictive pain killer, "Z", from dead bodies.
Not for the faint hearted but fans of movies featuring maximum gore, a la Rocky Horror Picture Show, are the only people who would appreciate this movie. For me it was like watching a train wreck. I watched hoping that there would be some redeeming factor. I think one of the reasons I made it through the whole movie was the phenominal voice of Sarah Brightman (you may have caught one of her concerts on PBS).
BTW, Paris "won" a Razzie for her perfomance in this movie.
I'm even at a loss at what tags to link to this blog entry.
My rating for this movie: +

Unwind

WOW!!!!! There is one scene in this book which almost made me stop reading, it was so disturbing. When a 13 year-old kid is slated to be unwound, it means that he is brought to a harvesting center where he is turned into as many parts as can be transplanted. This is a very scary scenario when you see how easy it is for parents to turn over their kids for any reason - they can't afford to feed them, the kids are getting into trouble, any reason at all.

Connor is a 13-year old boy who has been getting into fights and so his family signs him over to be unwound. On the way to the harvest center, he escapes his transport, causes a major accident on the freeway, and kidnaps a "tithe" out of his car. His escape eventually becomes a legend amoung unwounds. He is rescued by an underground railroad for unwounds and is taken to a sanctuary where he can stay until he is 18 and is no longer desirable for harvesting.

I highly recommend this book if you like action and you aren't too squeamish (there is one extremely unsettling scene which takes place at the harvest farm).

My rating - *****