Repo! The Genetic Opera

[Haze 112]

This is a difficult recommendation for me as I genuinely love Repo but if there where two things that would ever put me (and others) off a movie they are the words "from the director of three of the Saw movies" and "starring Paris Hilton".

 

While the movie isn't to everyones taste there is no denying it's an experience. Anthony Head and Sarah Brightman are fantastic in it and while some lyrics make me cringe ("Now I am sequestered part of the collection, thats what is expected when you are infected") some songs like Night Surgeon and Chase the Morning are honestly fantastic.

 

Also the movie has an interesting backstory from Darren Lynn Bousman requesting sets in Saw IV that he new he could reuse in Repo (since Repo had no money) to all of the movies visual effects being done for free because the effects studio believed in the project.

 

It would be very interesting to hear the movie discussed on the show.

[sillstaw 414]

I'm still constantly shocked that people genuinely like this movie. It's like you can feel it trying to make itself "edgy" and cult-y, and utterly failing to be any good at all.

 

Also, Joan Jett appears for no reason and doesn't do anything.

[Haze 112]

I actually hated it the first time I saw it but it really grew on my on repeated viewings.

[Costly Sunglasses 0]

Oh my God. I remember driving 2 1/2 hours to see this with a couple of friends in Atlanta. I had been looking forward to seeing it for quite some time because I was interested in experiencing something I thought would be wildly original and very different than some of the mindless drivel that's force-fed to audiences on a weekly basis. Unfortunately, the most "wildly original" part of the night was the three of us breaking out into what can only be described as spontaneous, uncontrollable laughter as the end credits rolled. We knew that we had just witnessed what was easily one of the worst movies of the last 10 years. The only question is, does it get points for trying to be different?

 

Nope.

 

A point that was driven home to me on that night - in excruciating detail - was that "different" is not synonymous with "good" or even "mediocre". And would it really serve any purpose to say, "good try, guys!", especially when it's pretty far from being a good try? I don't think so. To make matters worse, the movie was practically screaming at the top of its lungs, "I will be a cult classic! Gather round, all you outcasts, misunderstood and brooding children of the night...and LOVE ME!!!". It was designed, almost completely it seems, to become an instant cult phenomenon.

 

There's one big flaw with that sort of mindset - it doesn't work. If you make a film with the obvious intention that it become a cult classic, you will, in all likelihood, fail. Those kinds of things happen organically, and if you try and force it... well, it just looks obvious and stupid.

 

Let's get one thing straight: Repo is not The Rocky Horror Picture Show, will never be The Rocky Horror Picture Show...and any ridiculous attempts to "make it happen" as a widely seen "midnight movie" are just pointless and sad.

 

In fact, it's not close to being in the same universe as The Room. Hell, it's not even Birdemic.

 

Did I mention it looks like ass? One of the most glaring problems (other than the fact that it contains some of the most atrocious writing since cavemen began doodling on walls with their dung), is that the film looks absolutely horrible. It's as if the production designer snuck into a junior high school somewhere and stole all the unfinished sets from an upcoming production of "Transylvanian Blade Runner In The Year 6000 (as imagined by a 13 year-old Tim Burton)". And then, deciding that wasn't bad enough, the DP chose to shoot much of the film through what appears to be either a lens covered in vaseline, wax paper, or possibly one of those sliding shower doors they use in movies when they want the illusion of nudity but don't really want to risk losing the PG-13 rating.

 

Then there are the songs, which range from breathtakingly terrible to merely forgettable. The music sounds like the wet fever dream of a goth with horrible taste (in other words, a goth). At times, it's actually aggressively terrible. So terrible that it's hard to imagine anyone ever wanting to listen to it again (which is sort of important for those pre-planned repeat "midnight screenings"). To make a film that relies so heavily on its original songs and have not a single one of them be memorable or even mildly enjoyable (with the possible exception of about 30 seconds of Zydrate Anatomy) is really a pretty amazing accomplishment. So I guess that's something.

 

There are a lot of films that deserve consideration for HDTGM, and they fall into many categories. You've got your good-bad, your campy, your campy good-bad, your campy bad, and your plain-old bad. Guess which category Repo falls into? None of them, actually, because I left out your gouge-out-your-eyes-with-a-spork-and-stick-knitting-needles-into-your-ears bad. So I'm not convinced that Repo would be a good choice for the show, since there's not really a lot of fun to be had with this absolutely wretched mess. I'm sure the gang would somehow find a way to make it entertaining, though.

[Haze 112]

Don't get me wrong I would never call Repo a "good" movie. As I say it features some ropey lyrics for one thing, some of which aren't just bad they actually contradict whats happening in the movie. For instance Anthony Heads character is constantly singing about how surgical and precise he is but when we see him taking organs he is about one step shy of sticking his head in the wound and shaking his face around.

 

Alexa Vegas pronunciation of "daad" drives me nuts, Tony Head should never have been made to sing in an American accent, I don't like Paris Hilton I can't stand SAW, I'm not a fan of gore in general and in everyday life I am the worst kind of Dublin musical snob but still, I love Repo. Its like this silly little ball of Goth joy that always leaves me with a smile on my face.

 

And I still think Night Surgeon and Chase the Morning are great songs

[sillstaw 414]

The truly astonishing thing about this movie is that it wastes an potentially interesting premise. The idea of getting organs on credit and someone repossessing them could make for a good movie, maybe one commenting on health-care issues (although I understand that most people would find that boring as hell). But the organ repossessing never matters to the plot! The dad could have a different job and the company could do something different, and the plot would hardly change.

[Peter_Awesome 28]

The fact that Paris Hilton is in a musical is reason enough for Paul, June, and Jason to watch this. Special guest Pete Holmes.

[Sean Connery's Trophy Wife 1]

The fact that Paris Hilton's face falls off should be enough reason to do this movie.