Review of Repo Man (1984) by Xgary X — 07 Jan 2011

Otto is a white suburban punk in a dead end job, but when he falls in with a crew of disreputable repo men he becomes involved in a conspiracy to cover up the existence of aliens. This all sounds very sci-fi but Repo Man is pure cult film making, so anyone expecting rayguns or spaceships is going to be utterly bemused.

Its formula of oddball characters, bizarre situations, surreal humour and foul mouthed dialogue will be familiar to fans of the Tarantino and Rodriguez school, but Repo Man was made when it was still a kindergarten.

This is the film that made me fall in love with Harry Dean Stanton and his hilarious rants are one of the many reasons why this film is so special; even Emilio Estevez is great (and I can't think of one other good film he's been in), as is the rest of the no-name cast.

The plot makes no sense, the dialogue often wanders off on bizarre tangents and it's littered with gratuitous swearing and violence, and I love it all the more for it. Add a brilliant soundtrack and you've got the recipe for the ultimate "cult" movie.