In Selected Theaters This Weekend: “Repo: The Genetic Opera,” “The World Unseen,” “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” “JCVD”

Repo! The Genetic Opera [watch the trailer]
It’s the future, a darkly gothic one, and there is a catastrophe afflicting humanity - a massive epidemic of organ failures. Thanks to a biotech conglomerate called GENECO, people can get replacement organs to preserve their health at a premium, but they had better not default on their subsequent payments. Functioning organs are highly valuable, and they’re subject to repossession if the terms of the agreement aren’t met. Internal organ repo is a gruesome business, and in Repo: The Genetic Opera, you can see just how ugly things can get in this new world, with soaring musical accompaniment. Starring Alexa Vega (Spy Kids), Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman and Tobin Bell of Saw, the film is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who helmed Saw II, III and IV, so it lies firmly within that bloody horror genre in which he’s built his career, while still being starkly different.

***

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas [watch the trailer]
A highly-acclaimed tale about a young boy named Bruno, whose father’s (David Thewlis) position with the Nazi regime puts him in near proximity to a concentration camp, and in his childish explorations, he befriends a boy named Shmuel on the other side of a barbed-wire fence. You just know that it’s a story that’s going to shatter your heart.

***

JCVD [watch the trailer]
Jean-Claude Van Damme is playing himself. The star of countless action movies in the late 80s and early 90s. A man with no career now save for shoddy straight-to-video roles that he often loses to Steven Seagal and a custody battle with his wife. When he retreats to his hometown of Brussels, Belgium, he gets caught up in a bank heist hostage situation, and the media circus that forms outside is convinced he’s so desperate for money that he’s responsible for the crime, so he’s got to find a way out of it. An unbelievably meta concept and a hell of a ballsy move that’s gotten people talking about the Hard Target in a whole new way - namely as an actual actor.

***

Pray the Devil Back to Hell [watch the trailer]
A powerful documentary about how a large group of women in Liberia managed to peacefully end a bloody civil war in their nation, by physically surrounding the peace talks and preventing the negotiators from leaving until they had reached an agreement.

***

The World Unseen [watch the trailer]
The first of two dramas coming out this month about forbidden lesbian affairs from director and novelist Shamim Sarif and starring Sheetal Sheth and Lisa Ray as the star-crossed lovers in question. This one is set in a South Africa in the midst of apartheid, where rebellious Amina (Sheth) runs a cafe that doubles as a haven for social outlaws, and her encounter with Miriam (Ray), a traditional married mother, draws them both together, leading Miriam to question herself and the restrictive circumstances around them both.

***

House [watch the trailer]
Yes, this is a scare flick, but no, this isn’t a remake of the 1986 William Katt horror/comedy of the same name, or it’s sequel which gave us the great John Ratzenberger line “I’ve seen enough tragedy and disaster to make you want to upchuck in your shorts.” No, this time around, it’s an strange concept - the Christian horror movie. Two couples locked into a house and forced to kill one of their number to save the rest by a psycho who claims to have killed God. Is it possible to make a successful fright film that ends in hugs and prayers?