“Night Surgeon” – Callum Quinn, © 2022
Around this time of year our senses become bombarded with a particular type of media–an entire season marked by spiderwebs, bloody hand prints, full moons and black cats… and scary movies. Some are dark, some are campy, some are old, and some are new. And some, while not necessarily popular–or even fully comprehensible–when they first came out, have gained a massive cult following over the years, making them pretty much a staple for any Halloween celebration.
And when you think the words “Halloween” and “cult classic” in relation to each other, there is, of course, one movie that immediately springs to mind.
That’s right: it’s Repo! The Genetic Opera, a gothic rock-opera horror-musical brought to you by creators Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich.
…What? Was that not what you were thinking?
Yeah yeah, while many out there will protest that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the go-to cult classic for the season, in our house we do things a little differently. And part of why we come back to Repo! again and again has a lot to do with one particular character. And while he is definitely no saint, and definitely no role model, much of the unexpected charm in this gory musical experience comes from Nathan Wallace: the dreaded “Repo Man,” played by the talented Anthony Head.
Now, we’ve talked about our strange attractions to psychopathic characters in the past, but the thing about Nathan Wallace is that he isn’t really a psychopath by Webster’s standards–though he acts like one. The truth is, he is actually a pretty normal guy. (At least, “normal” when you remember that this is not just a slasher film, but a rock opera. Not only is everything within the movie delivered through song, but the characters and their relationships with each other get rather dramatic.)
Basically Nathan Wallace is a loving, but overly protective father with a tragic past and a really crappy job. The “Repo Man,” on the other hand, is a persona–a mask that he wears in order to repossess life-saving organs from a financially stunted public. The job was never his choice but something he was basically blackmailed into doing by the real villain of the film: Rotti Largo. And as a result, he seems to have created the Repo Man within his psyche, finding a sadistic kind of joy in cutting up his victims and even changing the tone of his voice whenever the monster “takes over.”
But as an audience we can assume that this is all a defense mechanism applied by Wallace, separating the loving father from the killer. First and foremost, when it really comes down to things he is compassionate and empathetic, refusing to kill a friend of his even though it eventually puts a price on his head. And from numbers like “Legal Assassin,” we can experience his torment and regret at having this secret, separate life from his daughter Shilo, and his fear of losing her; and after enduring a rather gory scene featuring the song “Thankless Job,” we can see the physical falling of his expression as he turns from the monster back into the man–and the remorse over what he has just done, and the way he has acted, sinks in.
And, as mentioned above, at the center of all of this is Shilo–his rebellious teenage daughter. The one thing in his life that gives him any kind of hope and joy. Because of this, his fear of losing her is quite toxic, culminating in a very opera-like twist during the climax with regards to Shilo’s medications. Normally we should dislike him for the way he isolates and lies to his child, but due to Head’s very moving and human portrayal of the character we cannot help but feel sorry for him. Especially during the “Let the Monster Rise” sequence, in which Shilo asks the question: “Didn’t you say that you’d protect me / Didn’t you?” and the only response he can give is: “I tried, I tried!”
Nathan Wallace is most certainly not the hero of this tale, but we cannot deny that he is doing what he can with what he is given. And the horror of the situation does not obscure the fact that he loves his daughter and would refuse to harm those closest to him. All in all, he is a traditionally tragic character who deserves better than the hand that he was given. Do we condone his behavior? Psh, no. But are we driven to stand by him all the same?
The answer to that is yes.
— C.O.
Night Owls, who are some other sympathetic baddies from fiction? Why do you think you keep coming back to them over and over again?
