Review — Repo! The Genetic Opera 2008
“Repo! The Genetic Opera” has to be the most original horror movie I have ever seen. I’ll gush about it a little later but first, the plot…………. Repo! The Genetic Opera is a horror-opera, set in a grim and grimy future in which an epidemic of organ failures has hit the world hard. “Luckily” a company forms and comes up with a solution, “GeneCo” offers organ transplants…but, of course..not for free! And if you can’t make your payments, you can’t keep your organ, so GeneCo sends the Repo Man to hunt you down and cut that organ right back out of you!! In addition to organ transplants, GeneCo also offers cosmetic surgery, with an emphasis on “inner beauty", by which they literally mean “perfect” organs. As a result of this new surgery trend, GeneCo comes out with a new painkiller called “Zydrate". This only furthers the degeneration of the world as people become addicted and then graverobbers begin to pop up. Taking advantage of the high body count, they have found they can draw out remaining Zydrate from the bodies of the dead and resell it on the street. Rotti Largo, the owner of GeneCo, has three truly vile children. His only daughter, “Amber Sweet”, is played by Paris Hilton and is addicted to plastic surgery. He also has two sons, Luigi and Pavi, Pavi is also addicted to cosmetic surgery but he went so far that “his face” is now literally just one sewn-on mask of many, so he can switch them out whenever he feels the need. Luigi has a bad temper and not much in the way of brains. All of them have massive egos and no boundaries; it’s pretty clear that the viewer is supposed to hate them as characters. The three siblings are all vying to be named the next president of the company, but their father is simply disgusted by each of them and has other ideas for the future of GeneCo.
I adored this movie. It shot right to the top spot on my list of all-time favourites! Beginning with an awesome introductory scene outlining many of the horrific wonders to come, and interspersed with fun and gory comic book style interludes, I can promise you, you’ve never seen anything like this film “Repo! The Genetic Opera” literally is an opera, and thus in addition to being a musical, it’s also simply dripping with drama! Most of the dialogue is sung, which can get a little annoying sometimes, but mostly it works. For the most part, the main musical numbers are great (and the voices range from great to phenomenal!) but a couple of them are a little hard to watch…cringeworthy… but, hey, nothing’s perfect, and there’s certainly more than enough awesome to make up for any of the films shortcomings. “Repo! The Genetic Opera”, more than most of the movies I’ve reviewed, is not something that will appeal to many people, but if you love gory horror, musicals, and dark humor and you’re looking for something totally original, odds are, you’ll want to check this film out!
