Please oh please: Don't let the sequel to Repo Man suck
Tor.com's Bridget McGovern sums up my anxiety at the thought of Alex Cox and David Lynch making a sequel to Repo Man called Repo Chick, "set against the background of the credit crunch."
I don’t know. I’m nervous, but also kind of excited to see what Cox comes up with. My biggest question, though, is about the soundtrack: how can the sequel even attempt to match the original in terms of music, when it remains one of my favorite soundtracks of all time? Iggy Pop, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, The Plugz, and The Circle Jerks...the music is the heart and soul of Repo Man, and perfectly captured the essence of the gritty Los Angeles punkdom of the time. Not that there’s not a ton of great music out there, but what really compares nowadays? At least Iggy’s still out there rocking, same as he ever was, but it will be interesting to see who else will help Cox fuel his anarchic punk vision all over again...Here’s Hoping Alex Cox’s Repo Man Sequel Isn’t One Big Circle Jerk
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Does it really count as a sequel? Aside from the title, there's not much else that ties into the first movie.
Surely you mean "not suck as much as the original"?
#2 POSTED BY DOPPELFROG
> Surely you mean "not suck as much as the original"?
Surely you haven't actually seen the original?
BTW... [cough] ...
97% fresh on rotton tomatoes:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/repo_man/
Only 3% suck will be hard to tackle, Frog.
plate of shrimp.
NO NO NO.
I do not want David Lynch to touch anything to do with Repo Man. He's all wrong for it.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry my good friends, but there is just no possible way that this project will not suck. This shark is jumped!!! If you can remember how Dosteyevsky-wonderful The Six-Million-Dollar Man was and how Anita Shreve-awful The Bionic Woman was, you no that this bus is not in service and goes straight to the terminal. United Fruitcake Outlet indeed!!!!
From The Plugz to The Circle Jerks the original(and ONLY) Repo Man had the best sound track, combine that with the economic dystopia of "BEER" how WHY would you want to destroy an Icon of the 80's. I know coming up with new ideas is hard but Why Dear Lord Why?
I was in Santa Fe, NM, when I first saw this film. I was a single young man, and worked outside of town at campus nestled in the Sangre De Cristos mountains, and didn't own a radio or a TV.
But I did own a 72 Malibu Chevelle, and I made the trip to Santa Fe on a regular basis to catch great flicks in town. There was this place that served gourmet hot dogs and featured the quirkiest variety of films. That's where I saw Repo Man, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Blood Simple, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Real Genius, North by Northwest, Enemy Mine, so many good films.
Those were the days.
Absolutely horrible idea!! The first film was practically pitch perfect for it's day. The music, the tone of the satire, everything. It was the one of the best films of the 80's. Definitely the most quotable. I was junior in high school and into the punk scene when it came out and I think my friends and I could quote every line in the film. Still can.
I hope they don't just try and redo the first film. I hope Cox isn't just trying to cash in with a rehash of the genius of his first film, hoping all us original fans will jump on board. I hope he at least tries to make something relevant to the present.
And I agree with Pipenta...letting David Lynch in on this is a disaster. Love Lynch's work, but his films are in a class unto themselves. Can't even begin to imagine how David Lynch Repo Man would have turned out. Dark and Disturbing, but nowhere as original as Cox's masterpiece.
Is the comic sequel any good?
I can think of a lot of movies that need a sequel before Repo Man. That Matrix movie cried for one. We could probably use a third Alien movie too. Arnold is getting too old to make T3 though.
Just because they make it doesn't mean it exists.
Any Alien movie with Sigourney Weaver in it is a good Alien movie. They are all very different, but they all have their charms.
I actually like the second one the least. It's not back, but it lacks soul. It's more like your typical Hollywood product than any of the rest of the series.
But I think part of what makes the Alien series so neat is that they are all the same simple concept, yet all quite different.
That and Sigourney Weaver.
Back to the music part:
I do really like that raw edged slightly sloppy 80's punk or 60's garage or 90's ska.
The only stuff I've found lately is hiding in the gypsy punk bands.
Gogol Bordello would fit perfectly, and there are a few other bands doing that kind of stuff. And live, they are more punk and crazed than anything the 80's had to offer.
I might kick in some Dresden Dolls, but they are a little sedate.
Can anyone think of other bands that are doing that kind of stuff now?
Is Nesmith involved? That would give me at least a little more hope.
While I have no hope of this not sucking, music options abound.
I think hip hop might be the most honest way to go.
If you want a more aggressive sound, I think more experimental and noise stuff makes sense, in the vein of Lightning Bolt, Arab on radar, etc.
To me, doing punk rock at this point would have been like doing psych rock in the 80's.
If you insist on going punk rock, the worst possible approach is to do covers. No one can touch suicidal's "institutionalized".
Would now be a bad time to admit that I have not seen Repo Man?
-Struggles under the might of the disapproval-
I have intentions to! Honestly!
#10 There have been 4 Alien movies. Perhaps you have blocked some out of your memory. Alien 3 was proof of the "fine line between clever and stupid." I'm still convinced that they left a good movie somewhere on the cutting room floor. And the 4th is proof that throwing talent at a bad script won't rescue it.
@#4 You do a lot of acid Sabbah? You know, back in the hippie days?
I am almost 100% convinced that the music will suck, it will be cookie-cutter modern "punk" like Sum 41 or Good Charlotte, or (uggh) Avril Lavigne. Basically whoever is popular right now and can be pitcehd as "punk" to some Hollywood suit.
I hope I'm wrong. And I hope they re-invent the movie instead of trying to re-make it.
The thing is, I can't think of any music today that was so completely endowed with the nihilism that punk had (or at least projected) back then, with the exception of extreme noise bands, and face it-- they wouldn't really make for good soundtrack music except for a horror movie.
I suggest the doom bands like Earth and Sunn0))) (ferchissakes, Earth's last two albums are just crying out for soundtrack work), and maybe weirdos like Jandek (good luck) or members of the freak-folk "new weird America" scene.
Or better yet-- selections from the Boredoms entire catalog (and the Ruins too for good measure).
@ Moofrank:
Have you explored the late, lamented Memphis-based Darla & ShangriLa records band The Grifters? Such an exuberant noisy mash of boozy boondock delta blues-via-Beefheart and mercurial magpie lyrics, that's the sound I've been chasing for a good decade. Unlike a recommendation I'd make for most bands, I suggest starting with the newest stuff and working your way back to the older.
Aahhhhhhh.......let's not get too hasty here. We know NOTHING about the script, the cast, the characters, the direction of the movie....(Let's not turn BoingBoing into AICN, okay?)
I'm more concerned with how lame Cox's post "Repo Man" work was ("Sid & Nancy" excepted), compared to any concerns about Lynch's involvement.
That said, I could see Otto now working as a supervisor at some shithole telephone sales bank, when one night, one of the drones receives a very disturbing response from one of the targeted customers...
@16, re@4:
Wierd thing is, I read comment 4 and the next thing I know, my roomate walks in to the living room with a plate of shrimp!
"At least Iggy’s still out there rocking, same as he ever was..."
Yeah, not quite. I wonder if this guy has heard the newest Stooges album? It was terrible.
As for my take on the music, I think there is still a lot of great punk rock coming out of LA. They should just do a soundtrack that's all Smell bands - Mika Miko, No Age, Abe Vigoda, Nodzzz, etc.
The hell he was!
I think an entire soundtrack of Fleshtones or Violent Apathy songs would be a good start. I can't imagine they'll start where the 63 Malibu took off and went into outerspace.
Splashfrog, It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness.
I was just listening to a Solid Steel track the other day that had Miller's whole "...notice how everyone's into weirdness these days?" right in the middle of it. Quite pleasant. It took me back.
I remember watching Repoman on VHS as a child and just being stunned. At the time I though LA was all super clean, white, rich people and I'd never really been exposed to a lot of the themes in the movie (we lived kinda' out in the woods of western MD). Punks, Latinos, car repossession, rotting aliens, insane weapons researcher, holy shit! It was a time in my life when I was starting to realize there was much more to the world than tractor pulls, tubing down the Potomac river and the monthly visit to the mall.
But hey, here's to hoping Repo Chick's not the five gallon bucket of crap that most sequels are.
-clink-
Alien3 is a brilliant film. But it's an art film, not a fanboy film.
I remember, in 1990, reading a lot of movie critics opining on how Raging Bull was the best American movie of the 80s, and thinking, no, no it was not.
The key line in the movie is a throwaway, by Miller. Everyone remembers the end of his monologue: "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are." But the real money quote (sampled by The Orb!) is at its beginning: "You know how everybody is into weirdness right now?"
That was the zeitgeist that Repo Man tapped into. Cox took everything about 1984 that was weird, discarded everything else, and stitched it together.
Can something like this be done, 25 years later? I don't know. Maybe it's just me who's changed, but I feel that in 2008 there's a lot less weirdness to go around, and most of the things that I see that are weird, there's nothing funny about.
I assumed #10 knew about the third Alien, that he was simply snubbing it.
I've been listening to that Repo Man soundtrack for years. I really love The Plugz.
And that "The more you drive, the less intelligent you are." quote is one of my all-time favorites.
Part of the delight of Repo Man is how unexpected it was. How can you have a sequel? I wish they would just leave it alone. I'm too fond of that movie to want anyone to mess with it.
I think part of it is when the movie came out, we were just starting to understand how moronically self-involved the baby boomers were, and what sort of world they were making, and legacy they would leave. It was a horrible revelation, but as it was new, it was also darkly hilarious. So I agree with Mr. Rossney in that I'm not sure how funny it can be, when things are going down the crapper.
We should just be happy it's a sequel and not a remake.
Though, I wouldn't put it past Nicolas Cage to give this the Wicker Man treatment.
Whenever anyone opens the trunk of the Malibu, he jumps out in a bear suit and punches them.
Well, Alex Cox already wrote a script for the sequel, which he published as a graphic novel (Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday). It's a very odd story, and I have a hard time imagining what it would have been like as a movie, but it makes it hard to believe that there's any fear of a "sellout" remake full of mall-punk tunes.
I actually saw Alex Cox speak a few months back, after screening his new film Searchers 2.0. The new film takes a while to get going, but does start to get into the weird, dada rhythms of Repo Man by the end. Unfortunately, it looks like it was made for about $10, which hinders things a little bit. He spoke a little bit about Repo Chick, and it sounded like most of his interest in doing the story is the idea that the same people who pushed car credit and unrealistic auto loans which led to the creation of the repo industry (particularly GMAC) are the same people who were pushing subprime mortgages.
If it sucks I will blame society.
I rather like ill lich's soundtrack picks, however unlikely, but, following Cowicide's reasoning, even if this movie doesn't suck, enough people will say that it does, even before it's released, that it will invariably suck more than I would like.
Michael Nesmith is my cousin. Growing up watching Repo Man and, to a lesser degree, Tape Heads changed my life for the better, but I really don't know what to make of this. Alex Cox is a great B-movie director, no question. Straight to Hell and Sid & Nancy are still fun to watch, but I just haven't seen enough of his recent pictures to draw any kind of conclusion.
I do have to acknowledge that having David Lynch onboard in any capacity, apart from perhaps giving him a cursory executive producer credit, would be a tragic mistake. Not because I dislike him—I don't—but if he's involved in the direction, this movie will retain only about 0.05% of the original's psychopathy.
You got my hopes up. I thought you were talking about Repo! The Genetic Opera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzgpU25C6fg&fmt=18
Awesome movie >.>
The soundtrack is going to have GG Allin and the Murder Junkies in it. So for those hoping for hip-hop shit, you are screwed.
#32 POSTED BY TAKESHI , DECEMBER 6, 2008 4:54 PM
> I rather like ill lich's soundtrack picks, however unlikely, but,
> following Cowicide's reasoning, even if this movie doesn't suck,
> enough people will say that it does, even before it's released,
> that it will invariably suck more than I would like.
wtf are talking are you about? my reasoning? i just pointed out the movie is rated very highly on RT.
Flip
sorry, kids. but if d.lynch is involved, you KNOW the music will be done by Angelo Badallamente. period.
Tenn @ 15 - Repo Man is a present you haven't unwrapped yet - no shame in that! :D
I would recommend that you see the edited for TV version rather than the cinema-released version, for an extra layer of wonderfulness.
#38 POSTED BY SAMMICH:
[cough!] [cow spills beer on self]
Why?!
#31 POSTED BY JOWLSEY
> If it sucks I will blame society.
I, as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKIaS0lh-uo
@#33 POSTED BY JIMXUGLE
Look at 'em, ordinary fucking people, I hate 'em.
Are you kidding me? My calendar says 2008, so OF COURSE it will suck. That's what movies are now, un-needed bad versions of good older movies.
Stop the sucking and while I'm complaining in fogey mode, please do all you can to stop the 80's from coming back.
@#4 That's so weird!!! I was just thinking about a plate of shrimp!!!
Um. Wasn't there ALREADY a sequel to Repo Man called Waldo's Hawaiian Holiday?
cowicide @ 39 It's just flippin' funnier...
I will admit it's very much in danger of suck. But, could we all try to be optimists here? I mean, shit... the worst that could happen is that you hate it and then you throw in the old DVD and watch that as a unicorn chaser.
Let's all use the power of cosmic unconsciousness and wish for it to be a bad ass sequel that defies all odds of being the royal suck that it should be.
It's like looking at a plate of shrimp in Colorado and hoping it still tastes good despite being far from any oceanic source. I've had great shrimp in Colorado, gawdammut, because I WILLED that shrimp to bend to my tastebuds.
We can do it. Meditate on this photo at the following link and think the mantra "don't suck!" "don't suck!" "don't suck!" over and over in your head as you gaze at it:
http://tinyurl.com/3ks6p3
Theatrical Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=554AX4l1tmw
Then again, I'm one of the only people that'd like to see a Napoleon Dynamite sequel... so I guess I'm just a crazy optimist...
I know it is by an entirely different director, but "Southland Tales" felt to me like a good sequel to "Repo Man". They shared both the Los Angeles milieu and off-kilter characters, and both use a sci-fi concept (aliens in the trunk/other dimensions) as the catalyst. Heck they both even have a levitating car at the end!
#45 POSTED BY SAMMICH
> cowicide @ 39 It's just flippin' funnier...
You're talking about the movie with Paris Hilton in it? Er.. Yeeeaaahhh... ok... I'll watch it, but I doubt seriously the dudes who made SAW can touch Repo Man style of humor. Sammich, you're also a big fan of Adam Sandler movies too, aren't 'cha?
------ Repo Man -----
Otto: Bud, listen to me, you're sitting in a car worth $20,0000 dollars. Look, if we turn it in, we'll split the money, 60/40, you and me.
Bud: [Laughs] Who gets the 60 kid?
Otto: Well, I was figuring, since I found the car first that...
Bud: [Pulls out a gun]
Otto: That you get it.
the TV version is pretty funny - its got a couple of scenes that arent in the theatrical cut. if i remember right one of these scenes involves harry dean stanton beating the shit out of a payphone. and of course all the swear words have been replaced by stuff like "melon farmers", etc.
though as far as TV versions go, the big lebowski might be funnier. ... "this is what happens when you find a stranger in the alps!!!"
"i dont allow no commies in my car.... NO CHRISTIANS, EITHER!"
cowicide @ 49 - Repo Man's been a favourite of mine for 20-odd years. I only recently saw the cinema-released version (for the first time) and was crestfallen to find that someone had replaced all the flips, and (as Joe Blough says @ 50) melon farmers with more commonplace expletives.
For me the film had lost something rather endearing. ;)
@#50 POSTED BY JOE BLOUGH:
Oh sh--mellon farmer--t! I'll have to check that sh--mellon farmer--t out!
-----------
Sammich, I'm just giving you a hard time... ^_^
YES-- "melon farmers"!! I had forgotten about that, seeing the TV version it took me a good 1/2 of the movie to realize what they were doing. "Mellon farmers" for "muth@f*ckers" is the most obvious one but there were others too that were pretty funny.
The term "melonfarmer" somehow made the dialog more offensive to me. I interpreted it as a racial slur directed against immigrant day laborers. Only when I finally heard the original, did it make sense.
Of course the sequel will suck. The original was a one of a kind mutant masterwork. The only question is how badly will the sequel disappoint...
You know, the 1980's weren't exactly a good time for Iggy musically. This is before the Lust For Life revival brought on by Trainspotting and he'd made some lousy records. I agree the original RM soundtrack was amazing and a perfect snapshot of the time. Smell bands might be an interesting take, but I don't think they have much in common with the original group of bands save for being in L.A. It's the best scene that's formed since those days, but it's not exactly driven by the same energy or even a common energy.
I think the apathy and irresponsible nihilism of that era/scene has moved into a more surreal space. For this movie (without knowing a thing about it, just that it's modern), I'm thinking spazzy & transcendent post-punk (with more women in them) bands like Deerhoof, Ponytail, Little Teeth, Animal Collective, Pidgeon, Melt-Banana, Buttonhead and others. Heck, I want to do the music supervision.
re: the Grifters - Go with Crappin' You Negative. Doesn't get much better than that.
@#18 Ill Lich
> Earth
> Sunn0)))
> Jandek
> Boredoms
> Ruins
I want to have your babies.
Oh man, I'm so excited! When I'd repo cars in the SF bay area, we'd take along the soundtrack to play as we drove off.
Once a nutjob called the cops on us in the Castro, and the cops started quoting Repo Man!
I read an interview with Alex Cox once and he said that for everyone loving this movie and how tons of directors that say it greatly influenced them, the studio insists it never made money.