I take it back. All that stuff I said about enjoying the sight of vital organs being ripped out of living human beings? Well, I meant it at the time. And, as a rule of thumb, I’m still pretty into it. It’s not like I went retarded overnight.
But I’m really, truly, madly, irrevocably, insanely, thoroughly, vehemently done with this stupid fucking organ repo subgenre if it’s going to devolve into one indy-ish camp claiming the other studio camp stole their brilliant idea. And it’s not because I instinctively have Universal’s back when it comes to charges of plagiarism; if Darren Lynn Bousman, the proud originator of Repo! The Genetic Opera*, can prove the studio lifted his idea wholesale and that Eric Garcia and Garret Lerner of The Repossession Mambo** incorporated similar elements into their screenplay, then I hope he sues the slacks off of ’em. But if it comes down to a case of "Our premise was so outlandishly creative that it’s impossible anyone could’ve ever conceived of the exact same thing!", the only positive outcome will be both projects going the way of The Ticking Man.
But for those of you who want to take a side in this tedious legal slapfight, our friends at Bloody Disgusting have a copyrighted CD which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bousman and company have been developing Repo! since at least 2000. This predates the development of Universal’s The Repossession Mambo by a good three years. Is this the smoking gun? Does it prove that Universal is up to no good? Not really, but I guarantee you this isn’t the last we’ve heard of this delightful little squabble.
*I’m no expert, but you might want to, I don’t know, CHANGE THE FUCKING TITLE BECAUSE IT’S WORSE THAN BABY RAPE!
**Not as bad as baby rape, but not a whole lot better than baby fondling.