Things You See In A Graveyard
by Ava Steiner
What has a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes and lost 8.3 million dollars at the box office? That’s right- Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), directed by Darren Lynn Bousman! Shot like an Evanescence music video, this gothic rock opera is a great concept executed terribly and wonderfully.
Repo takes place in a world in the midst of an organ failure epidemic. Rotti Largo (played by Paul Sorvino of Goodfellas fame) has created a genetic empire, held up by the financing of organs- should organ receivers default on their payments to GeneCo, the antagonistic Repo Men will come and take back their organs, naturally resulting in their death. Repo follows the chronically ill Shilo (played by Alexa PenaVega of Spy Kids fame), who has been scouted by the terminally ill Rotti as his potential heir to GeneCo, as his own children have proven to be unsuitable for the task. However, Shilo’s father, who is secretly a Repo Man, wants to shield her from this fate.
As we go into the Halloween season, we here at Wilder Things love a good horror, and this movie is my recommendation to you. Directed by the guy who made Saws 2, 3 and 4 (he did Spiral too but we don't like Spiral here), Repo! is great for gorehounds who also like musical theater. Fun fact: Bousman only made Saw 4 because Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures offered to finance Repo, it being him and Terrance Zdunich’s stageplay from 2002. Saw 4 sucks but I’m glad it gave us Repo.
Don’t take my ribbing of this movie as genuine dislike- unfortunately, Repo is probably my favorite movie of all time. Its space in my letterboxd top 4 is pretty much cemented there, and I’m 99% my four 5-star reviews of it are the only reason it hasn’t dipped below a three on the rating scale.
It’s a rock opera, so you’re probably wondering: is the music good? The answer is objectively no. It’s very sonically rotten on first listen. That’s not to say that the singers aren’t good- almost everyone in the cast has some sort of musical background, ranging from Sarah Brightman (who was Christine in Phantom of the Opera) to Nivek Ogre (who was in the Canadian Band Skinny Puppy). The only person who doesn’t is Paris Hilton (yes, that Paris Hilton, she had a very brief scream queen phase), but her character is nonstop SERVING so she is of course forgiven.
However, on your second or third watch of Repo, you will start to ironically love the nursery rhyme that is Zydrate Anatomy and the kind of cringefest that is Seventeen (that has Joan Jett for some reason?). Then, on your 5th watch, you will genuinely start thinking that Chase the Morning is the peak of opera singing. I promise you will.
So, you’re probably wondering, why recommend this movie? If it’s not good plot wise, and the music isn’t great on the first listen, why would there be any reason for someone to watch it?
I have a few personal ones: I’m a costume freak. This movie takes place over the course of one day, and Paris Hilton’s character, Amber Sweet, changes costume, no lie, 8 times. Every scene she’s in she wears something different- this includes wig and makeup changes as well. Of course, she is a plastic surgery addict, and in this relatively low budget movie you could consider these costume swaps as assisting each facial change. Fine. What doesn’t make sense is Shilo’s character changing clothes 4 times. She’s this sickly little Victorian child, how does she have the energy to? I don’t understand it. I am obsessed.
I also generally love cringe and garbage. I love The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is kind of like the more successful spiritual successor to Repo. It is my dream that one day people will shadow act Repo- I call Amber!
But on a more serious note, I think the context in which Repo! was made is so interesting- not only did Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures use its creation as a bribe, it also came out around the 2008 healthcare crisis, where so many Americans were struggling not only with housing but spending more on medical needs. A movie about citizens being in deadly debt to a privatized medical company probably hit a little too close to home for some people.
So, with all that being said, watch Repo alone or with some friends, if not only to laugh at it- because parts of it are very funny, intentionally or not- then to see Paris Hilton’s face fall off.
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