People love Saw.  While I’m not going to pledge my undying allegiance to the series, I respect the hell out of it for being the only original and successful horror franchise in years.  I thought James Wan’s starter had great moments of interest, but structurally had too many cracks to hold up against even a modest breeze.  However, Darren Lynn Bousman brought some great game to the series with his sequel and the buzz heard ’round places that go buzz is he topped himself with Saw III.

I’ll see it at some point, but that’s not what has me obsessed with Bousman’s career.  From what I’ve read, no one has ever really heard of or seen the horror-rock musical Repo! The Genetic Opera, but Bousman helped direct a stage adaptation of it years ago, and as soon as Saw III clapped shut in post, he cajoled its 70 person cast/crew back together to film an investor promo reel for a film adaptation of said musical.

Cutting together promo reels to get films made is no big deal - hell it was how the original Saw and even Sin City got the budgets they did - but what has me tracking this new production is its IQ in the plot department:

Set in Los Angeles in the near future, Repo! The Genetic Opera depicts genetic engineers who respond to an epidemic of organ failures by harvesting organs for transplants. High interest rates and failures to pay off credit cards used for purchasing organs lead to foreclosures galore, and it’s the gruesome task of the genetic repo men at GENECO to reclaim the organs.

There is no official word on whether or not Bousman plans on keeping the film a musical, but regardless the potential I see here is boundless.  Imagine a family sitting down for dinner.  Daily discussions and smiles abound, for this is the first time they’ve been able to eat solid foods together for months.  Pops just got back from his kidney transplant.  A knock on the door.  The wife and kids watch with lazy curiosity from the dining room table as two ordinary looking men explain an inaudible situation to the father.  As deal making fails, followed closely by begging, the two men chloroform the father, drag him out to their van, and delicately remove his kidney - all because he couldn’t pay his credit card bill.

I don’t know if that, or anything like it, bares resemblance to any scene in the script, but it damn well better.  With the right care, this could be a Dawn of the Dead level landmark for when horror and social commentary combine to form a slashing thrust at consumerism and capitalism.  It has that same Richard Matheson, early Twilight Zone, intimately epic scope that I crave.

I haven’t been this excited about a film’s premise in a damned long time.  I could care less if Saw III is any good, but this…good on you Bousman for bringing it to a wider audience, but please don’t muck it up with MTV editing and nauseating spinning cameras.

Via Sci Fi Wire
Repo! The Genetic Opera musical trailer