Monster Scholar

Directed by Daryn Lynn Bousman, Repo! The Genetic Opera became an instant cult classic when it was released in 2008. True to its distinction as a rock opera, the music never stops and aside from a few snatches of spoken dialogue, the entire movie is one song after another. This can get frightfully tedious for some fans of horror musicals like Rocky Horror or Sweeney Todd which provide breaks between bursting into song. But Repo! is exactly what it claims to be, a genetic opera to the very end. Repo! The Genetic Opera takes place in the not-so-distant future where the spread of industry has caused massive organ failures. The human population faces certain death until GeneCo emerges as a savior, selling affordable organs on credit. There’s just one problem, if you miss your payments GeneCo sends out the Repo Man to recover their property ( Genetic Repo Man ). In the midst of this horror, a private drama unfolds involving the Repo Man Nathan, his sick daughter Shilo, Rotti Largo, the ...

I know when I started this blog, I had some complaints about Universal’s launch of a live horror musical based on Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). The Broadway song and dance routine seemed like the ultimate indignity for Universal’s Creature, reminiscent of Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) which pounded the final nail into the coffin of the classic monsters. But looking at my iPod playlists, I am guilty of having in my possession the full soundtrack to Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Little Shop of Horrors , and Repo! The Genetic Opera . I’m a fan of non-horror musicals ( The Producers , West Side Story etc.) and with my love of horror films it seems like a natural enough combination, but it got me thinking what is the appeal of the horror musical? The musical/horror hybrid is tricky formula that, without the proper balance of elements can backfire. One example can be found with Sweeney Todd (2007), as horror fans flocked to theaters expecting the ...

Universal has been trying to cash in on all their monster properties with remakes such as the Wolf Man (starring and directed by Benicio del Toro) scheduled to hit theaters in November of this year and that horrible amalgamation known as Van Helsing. But now they’ve officially outdone themselves. In what originally was considered a spoof press release , Universal has now confirmed its latest entertainment venture: Creature from the Black Lagoon: The Musical, coming in the Spring 2009. The show’s release is meant to build up the hype for the 2011 remake of the 1954 classic. Press Release: 2 June 2008 Drawn from Universal’s crypt of classic monsters and updated with spectacular Broadway production values and special effects, “Creature from the Black Lagoon—The Musical,” will rise, live, on stage at Universal Studios Hollywood beginning spring, 2009. With state-of-the-art stagecraft, acrobatic choreography and hilarious, toe-tapping music, the Creature will be brought to life in a story ...