Repo! The Genetic Opera is a goth rock opera. If that isn’t enough to make you run out and get it, you may not like this one.

Set in the year 2056, organ failures have become an epidemic. Enter GeneCo, a biotech company, to save the day with organ transplants for those that can pay. Repossession of organs becomes legal and if you fall behind on your payments, a repo man will come to repossess your organs. Organs replacements become a fashion statement and people become increasingly addicted to a painkiller called Zydrate.

When I first saw the trailer for Repo! The Genetic Opera, I was intrigued but hesitant. As I started watching it for the first time, I cringed. The songs were a bit repetitive, as songs often are, and I feared the entire show would be nothing more than an over the top music video with very little if any plot.

Without spoiling the entire movie, the plot is more in-depth than I expected. Sarah Brightman (Christine in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera) was a surprise as The Voice of GeneCo, Blind Mag. Sarah Brightman, Anthony Stewart Head, and Alexa Vega have incredible voices and were a pleasure to watch and listen to. Anthony Stewart Head put so much passion into the part that I really believed his plight.

This was was my first time encountering Anthony Stewart Head. I was instantly enchanted. Repo! The Genetic Opera is what spurred me to give the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Series a chance. The bugging from my daughter was the clincher, of course. I had actually seen Head in Taster’s Choice commercials long ago, but I didn’t know that until recently.

The children of GenoCo are another story. The audience was supposed to hate them, and I did hate them. Sometimes listening to them was like fingernails on a chalkboard followed by repeated stabbings in the ear by a dull knife. However, I think this is actually a compliment to the actors that played the sons, Nivek Ogre and Bill Moseley. I found Paris Hilton’s role as the daughter less offensive than the two sons. I know I’m in the minority here, but I didn’t think she was that horrible. The part, a spoil rich brat, was made for her.

Repo! The Genetic Opera has been dubbed a cult classic in some circles and the worst movie ever made in others. I’m in the cult classic camp. I’ve seen Repo! The Genetic Opera multiple times, the songs get stuck in my head, and I often find myself imagining what else could be done with the setting.

Repo! The Genetic Opera isn’t for everyone, but it has it’s place and it’s following. If you like musicals, rock opera, and horror give Repo! The Genetic Opera a try.