Nothing can be more nauseating and traumatizing than watching a horrible musical. I recall in my grade school years that I was made sick to my stomach because I had to watch all of The Sound of Music. The sadistic and obese teacher had to have known the world of pain she was unleashing on her student's souls. After watching The Sound of Music I vowed that I would never watch a musical again. A few years later I would accidentally turn to a TV channel that was playing The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Although I was also slightly traumatized by this film, it at least had some subversive elements I could respect. Recently I viewed Repo! The Genetic Opera, a film obviously following in the footsteps of The Rocky Horror Picture Show minus the homoerotic elements.
Repo! The Genetic Opera is probably the goriest and bloodiest musical that I have ever seen. This is no surprise as the film follows a Repo man that rips the organs out of people that are incapable of repaying their debts to him. Repo! The Genetic Opera is set in a dystopian nightmare of a world where one organ selling corporation GeneCo, owned by the terminally ill Rotti Largo runs the whole city. A suave GraveRobber has also made a career of draining a pain killer called Zydrate from dead bodies to sell on the black market. Despite being a world of future degeneracy, Repo! The Genetic Opera shows a place that doesn’t seem far off in the future minus the silly urban aesthetics.
Rotti Largo is the disgruntled and bitter owner of GeneCo. Largo lost his ladylove to a man named Nathan who would later become the mass murdering Repo man. Rotti Largo has three delinquent and spoiled children who live a life of hedonism and spotlight. ChopTop Bill Moseley plays an angry little man named Luigi Largo who kills people anytime he is slightly irritated. Rich bitch and whore Paris Hilton plays Amber Sweet, a girl addicted to surgery and Zydrate. Singer of industrial group Skinny Puppy Nivek Ogre plays the fruity skin wearing brother Pavi Largo. Rotti Largo hates his children and he makes sure they know it.
As far as musicals go, Repo! The Genetic Opera is better than most but that doesn’t necessarily mean much. I can see this film, like Donnie Darko before it, being the hit film for ugly fat chicks that live at Hot Topic and wear shirts that have such genius quotes on them as “You laugh at me because I am different, but I laugh at you because you are all the same.” I thought the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch was a much better rock musical than Repo! The Genetic Opera as it has much more depth. Repo! The Genetic Opera really just tries to do too much in such a small time. The GraveRobber is easily the most interesting character in the film and he only makes a few appearances. Repo! The Genetic Opera is a film worth seeing but hopefully won’t (but probably) have a huge cult following.
Repo! The Genetic Opera is probably the goriest and bloodiest musical that I have ever seen. This is no surprise as the film follows a Repo man that rips the organs out of people that are incapable of repaying their debts to him. Repo! The Genetic Opera is set in a dystopian nightmare of a world where one organ selling corporation GeneCo, owned by the terminally ill Rotti Largo runs the whole city. A suave GraveRobber has also made a career of draining a pain killer called Zydrate from dead bodies to sell on the black market. Despite being a world of future degeneracy, Repo! The Genetic Opera shows a place that doesn’t seem far off in the future minus the silly urban aesthetics.
Rotti Largo is the disgruntled and bitter owner of GeneCo. Largo lost his ladylove to a man named Nathan who would later become the mass murdering Repo man. Rotti Largo has three delinquent and spoiled children who live a life of hedonism and spotlight. ChopTop Bill Moseley plays an angry little man named Luigi Largo who kills people anytime he is slightly irritated. Rich bitch and whore Paris Hilton plays Amber Sweet, a girl addicted to surgery and Zydrate. Singer of industrial group Skinny Puppy Nivek Ogre plays the fruity skin wearing brother Pavi Largo. Rotti Largo hates his children and he makes sure they know it.
As far as musicals go, Repo! The Genetic Opera is better than most but that doesn’t necessarily mean much. I can see this film, like Donnie Darko before it, being the hit film for ugly fat chicks that live at Hot Topic and wear shirts that have such genius quotes on them as “You laugh at me because I am different, but I laugh at you because you are all the same.” I thought the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch was a much better rock musical than Repo! The Genetic Opera as it has much more depth. Repo! The Genetic Opera really just tries to do too much in such a small time. The GraveRobber is easily the most interesting character in the film and he only makes a few appearances. Repo! The Genetic Opera is a film worth seeing but hopefully won’t (but probably) have a huge cult following.
-Ty E
I can see this film, like Donnie Darko before it, being the hit film for ugly fat chicks that live at Hot Topic and wear shirts that have such genius quotes on them as “You laugh at me because I am different, but I laugh at you because you are all the same.”
ReplyDelete...that made me crack up.
I watched this last night, and I have to agree with most of your assessment. It had it's clever moments, but I felt like they were too few and far between, and when they did occur, the film beat you over the head with them.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that occurred to me while watching it is that it felt like they were trying to recreate the feel of RE-ANIMATOR in musical form, and failed. RE-ANIMATOR blends horror and black comedy well, while REPO seemed to swing wildly from horror to comedy and back again.