I saw
Repo! The Genetic Opera last night. I started
a thread for this movie some time ago when I first found out about it. It finally got a limited (and when I say limited, I mean 6 theaters in the whole country) release last week. Unfortunately Chicago wasn't one of the cities it opened in, but lucky for me, the director and co-creator took a copy of the film and went on a tour of another handful of cities to show the film for one-night engagements across the country, and Chicago was one of them.
From what I understand, Lionsgate (the film company) gave them such a limited release because they didn't believe there was an audience for this movie. I beg to differ. The theater was sold out last night, packed to the gills. The movie has gotten some pretty horrible reviews (namely from Entertainment Weekly and Rolling stone), but it's got a HUGE underground cult following, with very, very little advertisement and marketing.
The movie itself was... interesting. Someone on IMDB described it as "An opera that makes Sweeney Todd look like Hairspray". I say that's putting it mildly. It's definitely not for the faint of heart. Here's the summary from the other thread:
An epidemic of organ failures devastates the planet. Panic erupts and scientists feverishly make plans for a massive organ harvest. Out of the tragedy, GeneCo a multi-billion dollar biotech company, emerges. GeneCo provides organ transplantation for a profit. In addition to financing options, GeneCo reserves the right to implement default remedies, including reposession. For those who can't keep up with their organ payments, collection is the responsibility of "organ repo men", skilled assassins contracted by GeneCo, ordered to recover GeneCo's property by any means necessary.So...yeah. It's bloody. It has the makings of a gothic cult masterpiece akin to 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'. It has visually stimulating (albeit jarring) direction like 'Moulin Rouge', except with the blood and gore of the 'Saw' movies. But come on... you know you want to see a movie with such a random mixed bag cast like Anthony Stewart Head, Sarah Brightman, and Paris Hilton.
One really cool thing about it was that they used comic book artwork to help move along the story. It was definitely a clearer way of getting some of the plot points across (as opposed to singing, which can sometimes be hard to understand), and it was much quicker.
I'm not sure this is a movie I'd want to watch all the way through again, but I'm definitely in love with the soundtrack (And Anthony Stewart Head's voice). If you like rock music, this definitely has a bad*ss soundtrack, and you should check it out. It's up on iTunes if you want a preview.
All in all, I give it
7/10. If you like horror movies you'll definitely want to check this out.
"Repo! The Genetic Opera" official trailer.
