not for kids
Gory, goofy musical is bloody and bombastic.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this offbeat horror movie/musical -- which is set in a near-future where people can buy plastic surgery and genetically engineered replacement organs on credit -- is extraordinarily violent (in some cases, the organs are repossessed). Livers, hearts, viscera, and entire spinal columns are pulled from unwilling victims, in many cases while they're still living. Paris Hilton appears in the film, which may attract teens' attention; but unless your teens have a strong stomach, they may not wish to see Ms. Hilton in special-effects makeup that makes her look like her skinned face is visible, with flayed musculature and blood showing over the bones of her skull. There's also plenty of strong language, some drinking, and brief topless female nudity.
- Families can talk about who this film is meant to appeal to. Horror movie fans? Musical fans? Do many people like both genres? How does a movie become a "cult classic"? Families can also discuss the film's messages. Is it meant to be taken seriously? Do you think healthcare corporations put profit before patients? What happens when people can't pay for life-saving medical treatments? Is there a danger of too much financial and political power being in the hands of one corporation?
The good stuff
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Messages: Extensive discussion of medical challenges, surgery, surgical addiction, and living beyond one's means. Characters repossess organs when people can't pay for them -- a process that's generally fatal.
What to watch for
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Violence: Constant, extensive, and bloody violence. Throats are slit, there's bare-handed neck breaking, and characters are stabbed, shot, and eviscerated, with bloody organs pulled from their bodies. A character plucks their own eyes from their sockets before falling from a height onto a sharp metal fence. There's surgical imagery, stabbing with hypodermic needles as characters are drugged against their will, and extensive scars. A plastic surgery patient's skin slips from their face and reveals bloody, flayed musculature. Another character has extensive facial scars and wears a mask made of human skin attached with a series of hooks. A vast field of corpses is seen. Corpses are disinterred and stabbed with hypodermic needles to extract residual drugs from their bodies. A character shoves his hand into an eviscerated body and manipulates the corpse so it becomes a macabre ventriloquism act for a musical duet. Martial-arts style fighting, fist fighting, tussling, and head-butting. The death of millions due to a virus is established as a plot point in the prologue.
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Sex: Brief topless female nudity; suggestive dancing and kissing. Naked cartoon breasts glimpsed in a comic book-style framing sequence. Cleavage is displayed.
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Language: Some strong language, including multiple uses of "f--k," "s--t," "ass," "balls," "bitch," and "damn."
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Consumerism: No visible logos; plot elements question handing too much power to any one corporation.
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Drinking, drugs and smoking: Characters drink hard liquor and wine. A plot point revolves around the street-level abuse of an experimental medical anesthetic, some of which is extracted from corpses. Drug-addicted characters are injected with high-tech hypodermic guns to ease the agony of their cravings.
Fan Reviews provided by
5
Love Every Second! by movie_lover169
I went to the one in San Diego, and it was definitely a brilliantly, phantasmagorical film! I have listened to no other music for a week! I can't wait for the DVD. I know that it has gotten bad reviews, but you know what? Twilight got good reviews, and in my opinion, that movie sucked. I absolutely hated Twilight and everything about it.
Didn't this bad review thing originally happen to Rocky Horror Picture Show? Now look at it! Repo is an amazing movie and in time, everyone will know it!
5
The Goth baby of Rocky Horror and Reefer Madness by gavynhelfyre
"Goth Opera... Blood Saga"
This movie is amazing if you realize that it is exactly what the previews show it to be.. no more no less.
It is a goth/sci-fi/horror musical that goes all the way to the top and trips over it at will just to keep itself fun. Make no mistake, this is not a serious movie and it's not a movie who want serious musical theater.
The only thing I would recommend is to listen to the soundtrack before going, because of the music style, you may end up thinking certain parties can't sing, when in fact the song is written to be performed as a speak sing.
Seriously, if you have any interest in this movie, give it a try.. but go in expecting it to be fun and nothing more.
Remember, it's a thankless job.... but somebody's got to do it.
5
Repo is worth traveling to by adamhead
I traveled from LA to see this movie with one freeway closed down causing everyone to take the same freeway. 4 hours later, it was more than worth the drive. I intend to see it again. It may not be for everyone but if you like musicals and can handle blood, check it out!
3
wildly strange, good, bad, gorey and gross. by Mason2501
Personally I liked Repo, but my GF hated it. Great visuals, Great future goth dying world with cool goth opera music, yet the singing was hit or miss from song to song. I wish there had some real good dialog in between songs that would endure to any of the characters or develop some character growth. Instead the comic book pages as cut scenes tried setting up or flush out the plot as it went from song to song. Yes complete musical opera all the way though the film. I did enjoy that but I always felt wanting more about the plot, characters, the world. At points it was rushed or hard to follow. Jumping ahead with a comic flash back or forward. Odd enough I thinking if they had a few more songs, bunch more drama dialog, and some more action scenes the movie would have been better as a film. Still Repo rocks as sometime unlike anything most people would have seen. You either wildly love it, or would not stand it. Everything was done to an extreme. Refreshing odd weird dark place.
3
Sarah Brightman and Repo gear rocks by tvfangrrl
the movie isn't on my top ten...or top 100 - but i luv sarah brightman and i love some of the cool Repo gear out there. sarah's web site is awesome. I also found a cool blog [BLOCKED WEBSITE] that links to some sweet repo designs.
5
Awesome! by Becki719
Repo! The Genetic Opera, a horror/rock opera movie, is highly original. Whether you think you will love it or hate it, you should at least see it just for that.
The soundtrack is excellent, and very versatile, spanning genres from industrial rock to opera to everything in between.
The acting is fantastic! All of the actors do an excellent job in their roles, even Paris Hilton!
The visuals are really great, too. Repo has a very unique visual style to go along with it's unique storyline and characters, as well as comic book-style animation sequences.
Surprisingly, Repo delivers equal parts violence/gore and comedy (mostly dark comedy). I won't spoil it for you, but the scene where the Repo Man sings about his "Thankless Job" is a perfect example, as well as "Mark it Up", where the Largo brothers argue over who will inherit Geneco. Oh, and stay through the credits for a hilarious epilogue!
Overall, Repo is an amazing and unique experience, so go see it!
4
Not for everyone but i liked it by MarkL820
First ten minutes were kind of slow. The rest of the movie completely held my attention. Good acting across the board, even by Paris Hilton (Yup, she acted well in this film. She had some subtlety and layers to her character...it's weird saying i liked her performance). It is a cult movie in every sense of the word. But, it was made in such a way that it's "badness" is actually good. It's got a great story and can actually compare to "real" operas. I really enjoyed it and i want to see it again.
4
Its good! but not great! by lexmarx23
When i first heard of this movie was when i was watching an episode of "At the movies" They said it was one of the worst films of 08. And at first i believed them, I said to myself this sounds very strange. But for some reason after seeing a little clip of it on the show, I wanted to research it, and so I did and I got more drawn into it until I rented it. When i watched it I didn't know how to review it! I was speechless! It was so original I couldnt hate it! So the next day I found myself humming the songs and then I was buying them off itunes. The more time went on the more it grew on me till I bought it on blu-ray! And i have already watched it 5 times and still for some reason wan to watch it again! Now im a big musical fan, I love the Phantom of the opera and sweeny todd they are perfect! musicals. But repo! just falls short from perfect, I think it needed more time on it. But the music and story line is great! its a must see!
5
A Mind- Blowing Experiance by ChuckJ88
I saw Repo! The Genetic Opera last night at The Angelika and I was blown away!! I thought it was amazing. I was really lost in the world of Repo for the whole movie I couldn't look away from the screen! This one one of the best movies I have EVER seen! I feel like I have never truely been that lost in a movie. The performances were outstanding as was the singing. I was just sad when it ended if it didn't cost me a train ticket, metro card and a movie ticket to see it I would be there EVERYDAY!!! I can't wait for the DVD release but I really hope it gets the wider release it deserves.
5
Repo! The Amazing Opera by SakuraSan89
I saw this movie not too long ago, and I must say, I can not wait for it to come out on dvd, or at least back to New York. The reason a lot of people don't like this film is because it doesn't follow the mundane plot-line and cinemotagraphy that has become the movies of late. Honestly, do people think, "If it's not like The Notebook..." or "It wasn't like SuPer Bad so it sucked!"? Originality is where this film gets its points; not only that, but what a star-studded cast!
Alexa Vega from Spy Kids, Anthony Stewart Head from Buffy The Vampire, Sarah Brightman from Phantom of The Opera, Paris Hilton from (I can't say here), Terrance Zdunich and so many more. How could such a cast not get attention? And believe me, these people can sing;normally a big star doesn't know what they're doing, but in this film it was hard to find a single character, including dead bodies, that couldn't sing well.
To but it lightly Repo=Remarkable