I rented this from Blockbuster yesterday and was surprised that this was straight to tape.

In the not-so-distant future, more and more people suffer from organ failure and turn to Geneco for organ transplant.  All sounds good, but if you miss making your payments, your new organs are repossessed.

Anthony Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plays Repo, the masked collector for Geneco.  In his secret identity, he tends to his sickly seventeen year old daughter, played by Alexa Vega.

Paul Sorvino plays Rotti Largo, the evil dying owner of Geneco.  Aside from his impending death, he is concerned over which of his three quirky kids (played by Bill Mosely, Nivek Ogre and Paris Hilton) will inherit the world's most powerful corporation.

Did I mention that it's an opera?  Not just a musical, but an opera!

The music was very unique.  Goth opera.  And it was incredibly elaborate and layered.  I haven't seen Head sing since Once More With Feeling, the musical episode of BtVS. His Jeckyll and Hyde performance was great; I'm surprised we don't see him more in movies.  His action sequences are eye catching and I wished there was more.

Sorvino has incredible presence, whether talking or singing.  And plays his role with grace and dignity.  Mosely, Ogre and Hilton were enjoyable in their roles.... and I never thought I would say that about Paris Hilton.

The visuals were incredibly unique.  I should warn everyone that there is a good bit of gore and violence in it.

If you liked The Rocky Horror Picture, you will like this movie.  I expect this to be a cult hit at the midnight movie shows before too long.


Phil

I was thinking of the Rocky Horror angle with this myself when I watched the trailer a few days ago.

I didn't realize that it was being released so soon, but I'll put it on my short list.  Hopefully they have it at the video store tomorrow.

I finally got around to watching this myself. As soon as I saw Anthony Stewart Head was singing in it I wanted it.

Paris Hilton actually looks credible in it too.

After Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, Sweeney Todd and a few other musicals I had this craving for musical films.

It's not for everybody but I really enjoyed it myself.

I've been looking forward to this one as soon as I caught the trailer on the Saw 5 DVD. It's been on my list ever since, but I haven't gotten the ideal opportunity yet. Not sure if my wife will relinquish the blu-ray player long enough to grab the blu-ray version or if I should just cut my losses and watch the DVD version...

Here's the trailer...





Phil

This movie was horrible.

Ehhhhh, your face is horrible!  

This movie was one of the best I've seen in recent years.  The story was fresh (for a musical).  The music and singing were incredible.  Solid performances by the cast.  Even Paris put on an unusually good performance, and I normally can't stand her.


Phil

One of the best in recent years...really...really....

The plot was actually interesting and I really dug the opening but it  was  just one cringeworthy horribly written song right after another. If you are going to do any opera make the songs clever, or at least memorable I cannot think of one song from the film off the top of my head. Paris just won the razzie for this but she was probably the best actress in the whole thing. If you wanna see a gorey opera watch Sweeney Todd.

It wasn't a perfect movie, but I enjoyed it. I think the razzie was partially because of her name. She wasn't bad at all in this and in fact did a fine job for the film.

I liked the songs. I know they were cheesy and not very well written but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

I've seen Sweeney Todd and I liked it very much.  It was a more classical musical than Repo.  I thought the songs in Repo were very memorable, more than in Sweeny.  And there is nothing in Sweeny that matches the emotion-packed opera in Repo.


Phil

I think the Razzie awards are "awarded" to the actress with most bad press during the year rather than her performance in the actual film. I seem to remember Lindsey Lohan "winning" for "I Know Who Killed Me" when I can remember lots of other performances that year that were much worse. I actually liked that movie...slightly...sue me.

By reading this thread, I've been convinced. I think I'll give this Repo thing a watch tonight. I don't really like musicals and I can only think of one Paris Hilton movie I enjoyed (bet you can't guess which) but the whole concept sounds pretty interesting so it's worth a watch.

I saw "I Know Who Killed Me," and I thought it was god-awful.  There was nothing good about it.  IMHO, Paris gave a much better performance than Lindsay Lohan.


Phil

Just watched the trailer... looks pretty cool! I will have to get it out.

Quoted from George Willson I've been looking forward to this one as soon as I caught the trailer on the Saw 5 DVD. It's been on my list ever since, but I haven't gotten the ideal opportunity yet. Not sure if my wife will relinquish the blu-ray player long enough to grab the blu-ray version or if I should just cut my losses and watch the DVD version...

I got the Blu-Ray version. Pretty good stuff.

The director says it isn't for everyone. At the beginning yeah it feels a little odd but it just gets better as it goes.

The one hole this film has is the daughter never finds out how her mother really died. To go any further spoils the ending haha but it is a major flaw in the story.

Sweeney Todd doesn't try to be a musical from beginning to end, this does. Everything is sing song here. And Sweeney Todd is not a rock opera as this is.

Sweeney Todd was never a rock opera (though I do suspect Sondheim went for through-sung due to Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita). I'd been listening to the 77 cast recording for years before the movie came out, and I learned the Tim Burton cut most of the "musical" songs and sequences to make it more movie-ish than musical. Unfortunately for Sweeney Todd, this led to the removal of "The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd" which was done in instrumental over the main titles, but was sung by the cast on stage. All the same, from someone who had seen the musical some years ago, I thought that movie was quite good for a movie musical.

No where near as many pointless sequences as, say, Hello Dolly! (cringe...)

Quoted from dogglebe IMHO, Paris gave a much better performance than Lindsay Lohan

Based on those two movies, I would have to agree with you but I'm not going to get into a debate over who is the better actress as one is as bad as the other.

I watched Repo last night and was impressed. I thought it could have been so much better but maybe my expectations were too high. Sweeney Todd was better in every way but they are different types of musicals as someone else pointed out.

The cast were all great. Anthony Head was probably head and shoulders above the rest of them but Bill Moseley was the star for me. I was in stitches every time he appeared on screen, especially during his first song when he's introduced. And yes, Paris Hilton was great too. Saying that, I didn't find any of the songs memorable, maybe I will on second viewing, which this deserves.

The visuals were outstanding, the gore was expected with this coming from the guy who made a few SAW movies. All in all, I enjoyed this, but it could have been better as it is a great concept for a horror movie/musical. I'd say the 6.6/10 score on IMDB is just about right.

Sweeny Todd rocked my world. Depp as an intense pyscho was breathtaking.

Ah hell I was even impressed with Across The Universe.  

I am so keen to see this Repo movie but as always cause I live in Australia I will be the last person on Earth to see it.

Quoted from tonkatough Sweeny Todd rocked my world. Depp as an intense pyscho was breathtaking. Ah hell I was even impressed with Across The Universe.   I am so keen to see this Repo movie but as always cause I live in Australia I will be the last person on Earth to see it.

That Sweeney Todd movie is awesome. I can only watch the film up to the point where he dies tho.

If you have a region free DVD player or a computer just order an American copy.

The commentary and other features on the DVD are worth it.

You can even get the soundtrack which has all the songs on it as well.