Sh*tty Movie Night: Repo! The Genetic Opera (Patreon)

Rae’s Rating: 💉💉💉💉💉
How to watch? Rentable via Apple / Amazon Prime (or find a weirdo friend who owns this)

Oh boy. Do I have a doozy of a movie for you this time! I had never heard of this before Meddling Executive and friend-of-the-pod Nicole choose it for a Sh*tty Movie Night years ago. I will never forgive her/always remember her for it.

Here’s the plot, which is summed up nicely in a series of terrible graphic novel panels at the start of the film. In the not-too-distant future, a epidemic of organ failures causes millions to die. CHAOS! But out of that chaos, a company called GeneCo emerges to save the day. GeneCo makes organ transplants easy, “affordable,” and painless through their payment plans and miracle drug - Zydrate. But beware the fine print… If you can’t pay your medical debt, GeneCo will send a Repoman to come and “collect” their property! The story centers around one such Repoman, Nathan (aka Giles from Buffy. THAT’S RIGHT), who grapples with his role as a murderer-for-hire (although he really seems to actually like it?) while trying to keep his terminally ill teenage daughter, Shilo, alive.

Look how much fun he's having!

There’s also a subplot about the CEO of GeneCo, Rotti Largo, and his three terrible children (Luigi, Pavi, and Amber) all vying for control of the company. Like a terrible musical b-movie version of Succession. This all culminates in an event called “The Genetic Opera” which is like… the Oscars of organ transplants, I guess? It’s unclear.

The first 5 minutes of this movie is much more fun if you designate a person (or persons) to read the graphic novel panels out loud and preferably in character voices. Otherwise you’re in for some very boring reading… the worst crime a movie can commit!

Also, yes this is a musical. So, you’re going to need to turn on the subtitles and sing along to Every. Single. Song. as loud as you possibly can. It doesn’t matter if you can sing, neither can 90% of this cast. One of the drinking game rules was going to be, “Drink whenever a song starts” but there are THIRTY EIGHT songs on the soundtrack for this film, so if you did, you’d be dead and then who would listen to this podcast?!

We'd have to come repo your liver...

They definitely took the quantity over quality approach with the songs, but even so there are a few that absolutely SLAP. Zydrate Anatomy and 21st Century Cure to be specific. Both sung mostly by Terrance Zdunich, The Grave Robber and co-creator of this opera, who is by far the best character in this movie and one of the only people who can actually sing. (I’m going to need everyone to scream GRAAAAAAAAVES as loud as they can during the former song.) Despite being the best character, the Grave Robber is basically relegated to slinging Zydrate and exposition throughout the film. The rest of the songs are goofy character numbers or super emo garbage that sound like bad Evanescence ripoffs.

And the Zydrate gun goes somewhere against your anatomy!

Shilo, in particular, cannot sing and has some of the worst song moments in the film (Seventeen and Infected?…woof). Was Alexa Vega a big deal at the time? Was there a huge crossover audience between Repo! And Spy Kids? To her credit, she seems to work her ass off and has a thriving career in TV. So what do I know? I bet more people ask her about this movie than Spy Kids though.

And she does look like one of those AI-generated anime/human hybrids

During our last watch through, I discovered that the Repoman is also Rebecca’s shitty ex-husband, Rupert, from Ted Lasso! So, I guess this role didn’t entirely ruin his career. One of the smartest choices this movie makes is not sparing Nathan Wallace (spoiler alert!), because, honestly, he’s a pretty unredeemable villain, and I’m not sure how he and Shilo’s relationship could bounce back.

Whew. The last season of Ted Lasso got intense!

Despite the shaky plotting, bad CGI, questionable songs, and even more questionable singing - there’s a lot to enjoy about this film. It’s grotesque, macabre costumes and makeup are actually pretty cool. And there are some excellent gory moments. Oh! and Paris Hilton’s face falls off. But overall, it’s just a very fun, terrible movie that never ceases to entertain.

Blind Mag especially serves up some killer manic pixie fever dream girl a la Tim Burton vibes.

C'MON!

Also, there's whatever is going on with Pavi...

A minor gripe: What is up with them continuing to call Sarah Brightman’s character “Blind Mag” even after she can see? You’d think that, as their top spokesperson, GeneCo would want to highlight the fact that they made her not blind with their fancy Black Mirror eye technology! Where was the GeneCo marketing team on that one!?

When researching the history of this film, it was no surprise that it started out as a theatrical rock opera. I bet it was super fun to see this on-stage in the early 2000s. That still seems like the best viewing format for this film: In a run down indie theater with drunk strangers during Halloween where you can sing along and, oh I don’t know, throw used syringes at the screen during memorable moments. (Or maybe not? That’s probably a health hazard.)

Since this is now a beloved cult classic, I’m sure there are hundreds of other podcasts, YouTube videos, or thinkpieces on Substack you can read about the what and why of this movie. I’m just here to tell you to get absolutely sh*tfaced and watch it immediately.

I give this 5/5 Zydrate shots. I didn’t feel nothin’ at all…

COCKTAIL

“Zydrate Comes in a Little Glass Vial”

• 2 oz gin
• 1 oz blue curaçao
• Lemonade

Pour gin and blue curaçao into a shaker with ice and shake to combine. Fill the rest of the shaker with lemonade. Then, fill a plastic syringe with the mixture and shoot it directly into your anatomy (your mouth), and when the gun goes off it sparks and you’re ready for a movie (..a movie!)

DRINKING GAME

Take a drink:

• When a song is sung by an ACTUAL trained singer
• Take TWO drinks during the Zydrate song
• Whenever the Grave Robber makes an appearance
• When the Repo! Man takes back an organ
• Whenever Pavi and Luigi chew the scenery
• During incest references
• When there is a graphic novel exposition interlude
• When Paris Hilton’s face falls off
• On Boobs! (as always)
• When a main character dies

Finish your drink:

• During Blind Mag’s finale