Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

hyped garbage

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Are you a man who wears eyeliner and fishnet shirts? Do you like listening to Nightwish? Have you ever described yourself as polyamorous? Say no more. This is your movie.To the rest of us we will just have to sit back and not understand the deeper meanings and seamless continuity of this higher form of art. As a movie it cannot stand on its own and if you heard the music by itself a grimace and a quick change of the radio station would follow. When blended together the audience is met with a unreasonably painful experience. One that will leave the viewer uncomfortable and embarrassed for weeks.To those viewers who chose this movie while partaking of a Paris Hiltonathon: The going is tough, but you have worse ahead of you still.

Such a movie gives me hope - that sometimes between all the remakes, prequels, sequels, reboots and directors cuts and whatever bores we still get now and then a gem to watch. What the world needs are certainly more such fine imaginations like Repo! The Genetic Opera. Somehow the movie reminds me a little of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and that's for sure not the worst reference.Well, the genetic opera is filled with fine ideas, gore, slash and some good songs. It is an explosion of blood compared with all the blood- and lifeless productions which flood the screens of cinema and all the networks nowadays.If you like musicals and gore, this is made for loving you - and don't forget to watch The Devil's Carnival, also directed by Darren Lynn Bousman: a horror musical.

I'm a fan of 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' but not so much 'Repo!'. Both are outrageous rock musicals with campy B-movie style and dark humor. Three reasons why I prefer 'Rocky': 1) the playful sexuality, 2) the surreal story twists and 3) the 70's aesthetic.There's no Tim Curry or Susan Sarandon here, no Meat Loaf and no Time Warp. What we get is the charismatic Anthony Steward Head, who we know from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and who delivers some nice singing performances in that show as well. Here he steals the show at every turn: his character is the only one who's actually compelling and his singing voice is pleasant and warm. Other characters include the aging CEO of an evil corporation, his depraved and moralless children (one of whom is played by none other than Paris Hilton) and an angsty teenage girl who wants to escape her sheltered life. Actually I liked her angsty teenage rock song 'Seventeen'! It reminded me of 'Cherry Bomb' by The Runaways.The songs are more hard rock than the classic rock of 'Rocky' - there are pounding drums and scathing guitar riffs straight out of a 90's Metallica record. The story is fun and campy, and of course extremely dark and filthy, but it gets a little muddled at the end.

Visually, I think this film is very stunning. The lighting, the costume design, the set, special effects... It gives off the impression that it has jumped right out of a graphic novel. (Which the film takes advantage of with comic panels used in helping to establish the origins of our characters, though I wish the film more like Ang Lee's Hulk movie, where the comic panels are used more so for scene transitions and just to look stylish.) There is some gore, though nothing completely over the top bloody. (Well, I didn't think so, anyway :P )The music is constant throughout, as the title suggests. That is a bit of a nuisance to me, as I'm not the biggest fan of musicals. But then again, this is an opera. So I should've expected a lack of dialogue. The songs, though I cannot recall how they go without repeated listening, are quite good. There isn't one that stands out from the rest, but still are worth a listen outside of the film. The vocal performances I also found to be great.Biggest problem with the film for me are the characters. Not that they were bad, but I didn't find that there was enough character development. When it seemed like they were about to, though, the film rushed straight into the next song. Then again, like I said, I don't watch many musicals, so I guess any character development was done through song. But notI mostly enjoyed the visual aspect of this film, overall, as my review suggests. I doubt the rest of it has been helpful for anyone.