[Roderick Usher]

Repo: The Genetic Opera

Musicals are tricky. Even the best ones have flaws and very few are capable of changing the mind of those who simply can't stand musicals. I happen to like them. I've toured the country in several musical productions, so that plus my undying (or is it undead?) love of horror made me a prime candidate to really enjoy Repo.

I didn't.

To put it bluntly...The entire film is a colosal failure. The songs are tuneless and forgettable, the actors (with the exception of Anthony Head and Sarah Brightman) have no business doing musicals - they lacked voices and looked uncomfortable singing, the cinematography is off-putting, comic book-style panels place waaaaaay too much expository text on the screen (lazy writing) and the cardinal sin...

None of our protagonists are victims of the Repo Man! The villian only slashes nameless characters, so there is no impact to the gore and not a hint of tension. The key to drama is to have a protagonist and an antagonist in direct opposition to each other. This film give you no one to root for or even care about.

And the lyrics? Laughable. And I mean that literally. The half-dozen or so of us in the otherwise empty theater laughed out loud repeatedly at the ridiculous of the words clunking out of the actors' mouths.

I really wanted to like this and typically don't like to post negative reviews, but this one is a film to avoid.

I was conflicted about Sweeny Todd last year. I thought it was a wonderfully gorey effort with a great, gothic vibe but wasn't much a fan of the music. Repo made me long for Sonheim.

On the positive side, the costumes and set designs were really cool and there were a lot of skanky goth chicks wearing very little - which I always enjoy. Anthony Head really goes for it. His scenes are the very best stuff in the film.

4/10