Review of Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) by Erik A — 18 Mar 2010

There is a new film out this week where Jude Law and Forest Whitaker reposses people's organs, its Called "Repo Men". However, this basic premise has actually already been done a few years ago, albeit with a much more grisly tone and turned into a musical. I wouldn't have believed the existence of this movie if I hadn't seen it for myself.

What to say of it? It is a bizarre expierience. In many ways It seems to be the amalgmation of Saw, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the previously mentioned Repo Men, and with the first two it has everything that was good and bad about both films. In fact it has everything good and bad about any B-movie ever made, from its over the top acting, graphic novel -like interludes to explain the backstory, and low budget production. It is only one Bruce Cambell cameo away from becoming the greatest B movie ever made.

As for the music, well, much of it sounds the same and done in the over-the-top glam-rock style. The lyrics half the time are just the dialouge sung to music (which makes for some rather amusing sequences) and they are quite, shall we say, odd. For instance, the following lines are used at various times: "why are my genetics such a bitch", "pavi's face will rule them all", and "I will find a hole a f*** it".

The singing varies from competent to horribly inept. The story itself has numerous subplots that go all over the place and yet somehow are interrelated. And Paris Hilton is in it as well, and suprisingly she is fairly decent (and her face falls off at the end).

So how do I feel about this film? It not a bad film but it certainy isnt great. It is just bizzare, and this makes it watchable in the "what the hell is this" sort of way. It short, it has all the markings of becoming a classic cult film.

And it is better than another low-budget obscure musical, that one being "The Apple".