Repo! A Genetic Opera

 

REPO!   A Genetic Opera

 

OK….for those that have been waiting for something to finally eclipse “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as the next timeless cult midnight movie, well, keep waiting, because I don’t think that this one will quite do it.

 

Now, I’ve seen “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight showings, at the old Cinema 150 in Santa Clara, CA (along with Bill & some others), and people REALLY got into it, and there were even people acting out the entire film in front of the screen, too.   I really can’t see that happening with this film.   The songs are catchy and maybe it’s from continual airplay over the years, but I can still hear “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again” in my head, every once in a while, and I didn’t really find anything quite that contagious in “Repo!”.

 

The story is that of a future society, where there’s been a huge plague and many have died.   To survive a lot of people have undergone organ transplants, thanks to mega-company GeneCo, run by one Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino).    The problem is, though, is that these organ transplants are really expensive, and if one doesn’t keep up with their payments, well, the Repo Man shows up to take your organs back.    And this seems to happen quite often, ick.

 

A young girl named Shilo has been confined to her home for many years, thanks to a blood disease she inherited from her mother, who is long deceased.   Her father is a kindly doctor, who loves her more than anything, but he also has a rather disturbing alter ego as one of these Repo Men, and he seems to love his work.

 

Now, Rotti Largo has found out that he’s dying and he must decide who will take over GeneCo when he’s gone.   Will it be son Luigi (Bill Mosely, who has extreme anger issues)?    Will it be Amber Sweet (Paris Hilton, who has some extreme substance abuse and cosmetic surgery issues)?  Or will it be  Pavi (Nivek Ogre, from Skinny Puppy, who is a creepy womanizer)?    None of them is exactly the bedrock of mental health, but that never seems to be an issue in this film.

 

Then there’s The Graverobber, a young man who sneaks around graveyards at night to remove a certain chemical from dead bodies and manufactures it into a highly addictive and illegal drug, which is mostly illegal because it takes away from GeneCo’s profits.

 

This is actually a very well done film, and the music is great, but it’s not quite as memorable as I would like.   The film is clever, the film is nasty, and it’s a great midnight movie, and a cult-classic to come, I’d say, but it’s certainly not “the next” Rocky Horror Picture Show.    A lot of fun and worth seeing.   And don’t be frightened that Paris Hilton is in this, she’s watchable & tolerable for once. 

 

Sam