267: Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Binx, I want you to know that I love you so much. You are one of my favorite people.

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Yeah, and it doesn't make a difference.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hackerslash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. State your business. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

A total joke, a waste of time, or a slash. Totally killer. Pun intended.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

These eyes can do more than see.

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The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

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What's the matter, Grave Robber? Can't get it up if the girl's breathing.

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And the paranormal paramour, Binks. One more hit for the show. The people have spoken, and our patrons have decided that for the first time in Hacker Slash history, we're covering a horror musical. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Well, let's follow up on a movie. We recently reviewed the masterpiece Evil Dead 2 from 1987, and we wanted to know what you all thought. 6% of you hacked it and 94% slashed it.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

That's what I'm talking about. What is what I'm talking about?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Some listeners gave us some comments here. Red 26 P3 said, loved it more than one, and I definitely feel like Ash really becomes Ash in this Evil Dead 2.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Yeah, he definitely gets more into his own character in that one for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

I'll agree on that though, considering now that I've seen what's to follow, it checks out. That being the version of Ash that everyone knows and loves, that that's pretty fair.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Strange and Unusual says, way better than the original to me. This is actually the original lol.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

And that's where I said no. This is very aligned with what Sean said.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

Oh yeah, for sure. The Evil Dead too is is my favorite of the three, for sure, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

You could say the first movie is just like pre-Evil Dead.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

But except it's not. It's the Evil Dead. It's actually the first fucking movie. Why do we keep trying to erase this movie? It was a good movie.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Just, you know, Evil Dead erasure. We can't help it. Now the B movie shelf says, I enjoy the original more, but this is still fantastic too.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

There you go. We got a fan of the original.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Now this week, Chris K, who according to his girlfriend Lisa, is obsessed with our show and got her into it too. Well, Lisa reached out to wish him all the happiness in the world and for him to have an amazing birthday. She says, I love you, my Frankenbaby.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

Aww.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Happy birthday.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

To be clear, that's Chris K, not Chris with a K. Regular Chris. Not me. It's not my birthday. Happy birthday, Chris. You Aries King.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Happy birthday, Chris, amongst the many Chrisses that we all know.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

Well, this month's patron nominees featured a supernatural drama, a French home invasion, and a 2008 film that was adapted from a 2002 stage play. While all three movies received some love, there is one clear winner who pulled ahead early. The film explores a future in which a biotech company offers organ financing with a killer clause if you default in payment. This week, after winning 50% of the overall patron vote, we're talking about Repo, the genetic opera.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

This movie was nominated by our patron Ashley, who says, listen, I have no profound reason for wanting everyone to watch this movie. Aside from the fact that loving the song Zidrate Anatomy and the character of Grave Robber are integral parts of my personality. But this movie is a time and it's a choice. I've been obsessed with this movie since it came out in 2008, and it's something you have to see to believe. Paris Hilton Notwithstanding.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Well, let's see how much of a time and a choice this movie really is. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_02 3:39

I have never seen this one before. I've never even heard of this one before. Uh, I really didn't know anything about this one going into it, other than the mention that it was a musical. So there's that.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I'm very familiar with its existence. I've had people recommend it to me for many a year now. I understood the premise. This entire time I thought to myself, one, it's a musical, but two, I've already seen Repo M in, so I kinda like I get the gist.

SPEAKER_04 4:02

Well, friends, of course. I I'm gonna paint you a picture really quickly before I answer this question because it's very pivotal. I want you to think of 16-year-old me in high school with my layered black and red polos, black skinny jeans, and studded belt. This was my school uniform, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

And I want you to imagine me singing these lyrics to this musical on a constant basis. Actually, with my best friend at the time, I'm gonna shout him out, Victor. We were so freaking obsessed. It's absolutely insane. So much so that I actually re-watched this movie about like four months ago. So my expectations around this, you know, I don't even know how many times that I've seen it at this point weren't very different, of course.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

Yeah, see, I've never seen or heard of this film, much like Sean. And I realize it's because this movie released when I was nine days into boot camp. So it fell perfectly into the black hole of music, movies, and TV shows that simply do not exist to me because it's from the forgotten time. And I I started with some moderate optimism with seeing Lionsgate involved in the production here, and then that optimism immediately fell once I saw Twisted Pictures. And that might not sound fair because I loved the original Saw, but the ratio of twisted picture films I like isn't very strong. And then add in that this is a 2008 film. I do not really care for early to mid-2000s horror films. It's just not my vibe. Now, folks have told me though that it I should enjoy this since I liked Glee and I enjoy other musicals, so I went in thinking, alright, cool, this should at the very least be fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

That's fair. I mean, I I think the only horror musical or horror-esque musical films that I have seen would be Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Sweeney Todd, and shit like that. But like, so I was expecting this to feel somewhat similar to those movies, I suppose, but other than that, I had no real expectations going into this one. I'm not like, I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan of musicals. I don't have anything against them by any means. If they're done well, I enjoy them. But yeah, you know, horror musicals, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

I think I'll just say that I was worried. You know, one, this is not a movie a lot of people have seen or get into. It's it's definitely a cult classic. And so when it doesn't have that mainstream appeal, if it's appealing mostly to one group, it could be like incredibly cool and just not known about, or it could just be incredibly niche. And so that was definitely a concern that I like I wouldn't vibe with it. But the the genres here are the I think the part that the part that concerned me the most, you know, because it's like okay, horror and musical. Love both things, both very entertaining. But the two together, I just was worried about it. I didn't know how it was gonna play out. I didn't know if it'd be done well or not. And so going in, that's my concern is is this going to be any good?

SPEAKER_04 6:58

And that's fair. I think like considering that it is a mix of those two genres, I guess, you're gonna at least expect a little bit of cringe. I I I certainly did. Even after re having re-watched it, there was a time there that I didn't see the movie for like a few years. So I know I've seen this movie an insane amount of times, but I did have a hiatus, I'll admit it. So when I started to see it again, you can really feel that cringe. And I almost think to myself, like, is 2000s camp a thing specifically, like that 2000s vibe that Chris was mentioning earlier. Like, I think this definitely is that, but it was a craze at that time. Like the fact that the emo, like, goth scene was so big again, resurging in the 2000s, and Paris Hilton was like a whole vibe at the moment and her entering horror. Like, what it was just a very niche thing that, although it's cringe, it's a vibe, guys. It's a vibe. At least at the I was feeling going into this movie. I was singing along, so much nostalgia, definitely grossed out by some of the lyrics, especially now, taking another listen at it, but also impressed by the gore too. It's just a movie of its time, in all essence of the word.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Okay, so being of its time was the number one overwhelming feeling I had in this movie, particularly with sitting back and thinking, wow, I can't think of a way this could be more early 2000s except for maybe thrown a Nokia cell phone. That's about it.

SPEAKER_05 8:35

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

It oozes 2000s. And let me tell you, this movie started out really strong, actually, and I was surprised, but I was immediately drawn into the comic panels featured in the beginning and throughout the film because really mostly it gave me creep show and trick-or-treat vibes, and that was something I was able to really latch on to. It was a great way to give the exposition that I think I needed in particular to understand what the stakes really were in this movie, and I was also really wrapped up in how much I enjoyed the overall world building here. A time when you cheat death for a price, okay, sure, sure, sure. But one fucking mispayment and you immediately get your organs repo'd? Yikes! I mean it's not that far off. It's like, you know, I feel like we're all figuratively repossessed in one way or another.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Yeah, I mean, for me, this one really felt like a super long music video in a way. Like, uh, or it also felt like an episode of, I don't know, haunted or one of those ghost story TV shows. You know what I mean? Like maybe a true crime show or something, just that I I don't know how to describe it, like that low quality, almost hazy picture, like that uh like you're just seeing a reenactment of whatever happened, that kind of picture. But if you've ever watched like a cradle of filth music video, that's what it felt like in some of these scenes, like a fucking rock bra.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

That I can a hundred percent get. It does, it does have that haze. You're you're absolutely right. It's got that like it's a movie, it's live action, but we're like we're adding art to it, so we also have to kind of give everything that soft grain and everything. It's it's very, it's very interesting. It's other real, I think, for sure. I just when I was watching this, I'll say cringe was the best word. I'll give this thought away. The musical part of it is absolutely insanely weak. The rest of the movie I enjoyed way more, but the the musical part is just I'm so spoiled. Lynn Manuel, I'm not a huge fan of the guy, but damn does he do really good work. And I think having seen all like modern musicals now, the standards are very high for me. And so that was really hard getting into that because I don't think I actually ever did. I it I would have preferred it with just not being a musical and just being a normal movie.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

Okay. Well, very interesting take, because I think this movie is known for some of its songs for sure, and that like being the the memorable, like almost what is constantly playing in your head after watching this movie. It's especially a particular line that we'll get into later. But we're you're talking a little bit about like the comic panels, the the haze of the film. Like I think in general, I was just surprised by the approach that they decided to mix some of these things and then go from a stage play to a film and what they kind of kept and then removed. There's a a particular method in terms of developing these characters where they use these comic panels to tell the backstory without us having to sit for a two and a half hour movie that I think is great and certainly creative. I wasn't expecting it, so I think that was kind of surprising to see. I do, however, in terms of a disappointment, I guess would like to have seen some more of that acted and not all of it just comic panels, like a good balance of both things. And then another disappointment I would say right off the bat is there's this one particular song/slash scene that is so absolutely annoying. Like I almost always skip over it every single time that I see this movie, but we'll get into it later.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

I cannot wait to hear what that was, because let me tell you, before I get into my own disappointments, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the overall story, and I found myself sitting in this experience thinking, oh, I can see why Binx likes this so much. But then there were some moments where I was like, bro, why the fuck does Binx like this so much? Aside from just like my investment in the story, I think I was highly disappointed in a couple of things. The first of which was the overall look of the fucking film and the absolutely awful CGI. What the hell was that? That was terrible. My second note, writing notes for this movie was the shift from the comic aesthetic I loved to the grungy 2000s coloring I absolutely detest has just given me whiplash. I need to call a lawyer. It's fucking ridiculous. We'll dive into that later in the second half of this episode. But my other major disappointment was the music. Mac, you said it earlier, the music being incredibly weak. I wouldn't even say that it mustered enough strength to even be considered weak. I can't overstate how much of a letdown it was and how difficult it made the entirety of my watch. I don't think I liked a single fucking song.

SPEAKER_05 13:26

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

What? You didn't like a single song out of over, I think, 50 songs?

SPEAKER_04 13:33

I didn't like a single fucking one. I think it's like 20-something that are sung, right? But like even the 20-something, you didn't like a single one.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

This was the perfect amalgamation of everything I hate.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

There you have plenty of songs to choose from the phone you like because there's a new song every two lines.

SPEAKER_04 13:49

Because it's an opera. What do you mean? Of course. Y'all haven't seen La Miz? Like I'm I'm stunned. I'm stunned, stunned.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Listen, I I agree with you on a lot of these things, Chris. I gotta say, I was a little disappointed by the overall way the film looked as well. I know it's a low-budget horror film, but it just looked super cheap the whole way through. In fact, even some of like the costume design, like the pendant that Shiloh wears, I'm almost certain you can scoop up on Amazon for like $3. I I was also surprised by how little some of the people could actually sing in this fucking musical. Like I get it's a horror movie, and you can't always get A-listers on a low budget, but you have to at least be able to find enough people that can actually sing to put together a musical. That's the point, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Okay, so some good voices, mostly bad cadence. Grave Robber, I think, had a great voice. Blind Mag had a great voice, but everyone else, I was like, this is pretty mediocre. It's not bad, but it was mediocre.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Okay, but the two people that you named are classically trained singer. I mean, Sarah Brightman is the is that bitch. She is that bitch, quite literally, is the icon, the Broadway. I'm not gonna go out on my soapbox. I'm stunned, guys.

SPEAKER_03 15:15

I'm stunned. It's too bad they stuck her with a cast that couldn't keep up with her, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

But also, you know what? I'm gonna I'm we're talking about budget really quickly, and I'm actually gonna shoot myself in the foot a little because I have to be honest and I have to be up front. We say that this is a low budget horror film, but I do want to clarify, and and then we can determine whether this is considered low budget for the 2000s. The budget on this film was over eight million dollars.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

I was just going off of the way it looked, I guess, because eight million dollars and that's all you got to show for it.

SPEAKER_04 15:47

Right. Well, and that's why I'm saying I'm I'm being honest, I'm shooting I'm maybe shooting myself in the foot real quick, but I gotta be up front. I have to say the facts, right?

SPEAKER_03 15:56

Let's also be clear that there is a point where the production was stopped because the budget was going over. So Paris Hilton made an emergency like paid appearance at a nightclub for that sum of money to keep the shit going. Oh my gosh. So how you can t spend over eight million dollars and then still run into Paris Hilton having to save your movie by appearing at a nightclub is a total misuse of funds. They really just like shot their load on some elements of the film, but then they couldn't fucking evenly distribute that spending and anywhere else. And that is why this movie is such a mixed bag of quality.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

But the thing that surprised me most, I think was probably one of the most expensive parts of this movie, and that is the casting choices that they made. So Paul Servino, right? Our boy Anthony Giles himself shows up for for a major role in this movie. Excuse me? Like, how much how much do they demand out of this? And then Paris Halton. Not only does she take a role, and I'm sure she's got plenty of stuff to do back then, um, but going out and doing the an event for nightclub to raise more money, that's good, like that's some dedication, that's some investment in this film. Surprised she didn't get like executive producer credits or something. But those those three choices there, those are pretty big names for a film like this, I think. And that was that just kind of caught me off guard, especially Paul Servino. That was a complete surprise.

SPEAKER_04 17:19

And then we think about like wanting such incredible singing out of these actors, okay, maybe not. But I do want to clarify that some of them, actually, Anthony had specifically, was casted because they heard his singing voice in an episode of Buffy. So although it's not stellar, technically it is why he was casted.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Okay, but let me just say again that it's not even about the quality of their voice, because I can barely hear hear that shit anyway. You know what I mean? Like I don't have a fine ear for music, but I know when some shit feels weird, disjointed, and chaotic, and this all the music in this was chaotic. And I think them trying to pass this music off as good might actually be the scariest part of this movie. Quite frankly. I mean, this movie isn't one that's trying to scare you, but I do think the overall picture it paints would be scarier if we didn't already live in a time in a place where medical debt is purely crippling and our healthcare system is absolutely devastating for those who don't have deep pockets. But you know, that serious allegory, and then the bad music. Two scary parts.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

Look, there is one song that kind of details that whole idea and concept of you know industrialism, and it it is a little scary, that's for sure. But on the practical side of things, yeah, I mean it's not a frightening movie, but there's certainly some blood and gore and body parts all over the place that you know, if you're not into that kind of thing, you might find a little disgusting at the very least.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Yeah, I mean, that's fair. Like the film overall, it's not frightening in the slightest, not even one note. But there are no jump scares. There's nothing really to actually frighten you. It's to your point, Binks, there's definitely gore, right? You see some gruesome shots of different things, but really it's not it's not scary in in any way, shape, or form. It's really just a gory gothic romance for the most part.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, I think I think horror here is is it's adjacent. I think you'd have to find like a really like a better word to describe it. Because it's not scary. I don't think any terrors will be realized here. I think it's mostly just grotesque.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

Ooh, yeah. And you know, and speaking of that grotesque, it just really reminds me that when you sit back and think about it, this movie is Jack the Ripper meets Sweeney Todd, meets The Nightmare Before Christmas, meets the Phantom of the Opera, meets Romeo and Juliet, meets the Lion King. But I will say it absolutely gets major fucking originality points for having a repo man hunting your organs. I think Mac or Banks, you mentioned that there's something called Repo Men. I don't know what the fuck that is. This is the first repossession shit that I've seen that's not about a car or other material possessions, so I do enjoy that quite a bit.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

That Repo Men movie with Jude Law came after the fact, so but as Max says, he saw that one before this, so it definitely feels original, like this the just the premise of the film and the story.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

I'll give it that. But yes, I also saw Repo Man or Repo Men or whatever it was first, and when I was watching this film, I could have sworn to Max Point that this was just a ripoff of that film, but then I looked it up and realized that it came out two years after this one. So I gotta give credit where credit's due. It definitely gets some originality points for doing the thing first, and that movie was literally the same thing, repossessing organs.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

Again, the movie came out in 2008, but this was a stage play that was written in 2002. So the concept of repossession and repossession of medical organs is like even long before the this movie came out as well. So I think considering the time of 2000s and where we're seeing like this resurgence of horror, albeit actually good horror or not, debatable, but we're seeing that you know, the whole like emo goth scene is kind of making a resurgence of itself as well. So that's why like the music, it's like a rock opera type thing. I don't know, it was different. I I think that's why it had such a big cult following, at least after the fact. Unfortunately, not at the box office, but after its debut, years following, it's it's definitely got its niche.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

We were apparently very worried about our organs in the 2000s. Like I think back to the 2005 The Island with Ewan McGregor. Fantastic film. But same thing there. We were, you know, getting into some practices in that movie uh to deal with potential organ issues and like that to what what were we scared of back then? Why did we think that our organs were?

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Aaron Ross Powell Emphysema.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yeah, that's true. We were still people were doing a lot of smoking. But yeah, I mean, I don't think you could remove originality points from this movie. I think that would be incredibly unfair. It's it's very original. The the story, which originated in the 90s anyway, and then they make it into a you know a stage play in the early 2000s. The story itself is is pretty pretty intelligent. It's it's kind of fun. Like you could take this in many different directions. They could have made a comedy out of it. You know, they could have made just a straight-up science fiction movie. And I think to say, you know what, we want to make a horror musical. One, other people didn't have this idea right away. And then two, to do it in this way, nobody else would have ever tried it.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Listen, far be it from me to ignore all the bounty of choices they made when making this film, and I think even the ending was certainly a choice in itself. It really reminds me of when Ashley wrote in her nomination saying that this movie is a time and a choice. But I'll tell you that by the time the ending came around, I had been long ready for it to be over.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

The ending, it was alright. I don't have any real qualms with it. I I think it was pretty predictable, but it felt satisfying enough to end the film for sure. Like I wasn't mad at it.

SPEAKER_04 23:22

Yeah, I mean, I think the issue with the ending for me is that I thought it was one thing until I remembered it kept going, and that's unfortunate, and that's coming from me. The ending doesn't have the necessarily the strongest songs, and maybe until the extremely very end. It's a better song, but overall the ending is just a little ridiculous at that point. However, I'll debate that maybe it's establishing how insane the world of Repo has gotten. Like that's the height of how ridiculous the people are and the power that Gene Co. has, but it's just not necessarily like the most surprising ending and definitely a little predictable. So yeah, I I'll I'll give you all that. That I agree.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

I do think though that they they do a good job of actually building up a big event with like an actual like major conclusion to several character story arcs. So yeah, I think the ending is is very effective. I think the last scene of the movie that plays, I think after like the first initial credits hit, they could have just thrown that out. They didn't really need to add it in. It doesn't add honestly anything to the movie, but the actual buildup of of the story getting to a conclusion, I think was executed correctly.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Well, we'll see how our thoughts on the ending impact our ultimate ratings here. But before we do, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Well, there's plenty of gore in this movie. You definitely get your fair share of blood, guts, and internal organs in this one. Even though I feel like the way the film was shot and the musical aspect of it all really took away from the severity of the gore. This one is still getting a pretty high to maybe even severe gore score just because I mean I gotta imagine there's plenty of people out there that have a hard time looking at this kind of gore in and of itself.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

And what about the animal report? We are completely in the clear. Gene code didn't get that crazy.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Repo, the genetic opera from 2008, as selected by our patrons. Was it a hacker or a slash?

SPEAKER_02 25:27

I'll kick it off. So it's my understanding that this film has kind of a maybe built a cult following, if you will, kind of like the Rocky Horror Picture Show did. And I have a good time with Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I didn't have the same feeling with this one. Maybe I'm hitting that generational gap or something, I just didn't get it. The story is okay, but the acting is pretty bad. And I know the message it's sending with capital consumerism and praying on the weak and people chasing perfection, but just the musical aspect is just pretty bad, and the quality of the actual film is also pretty bad. I actually had to turn this one off at one point and put off watching it for a little while, and for that, this one is a hack for me. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

That was that was that was a lot to process there, Sean. And I think I'm gonna add a little bit here as well. This movie had an absolutely brilliant idea. I think the story is just very interesting, the concept. I love the execution, however, suffered here, and that made it very hard to watch. The musical aspect of this film was completely, completely done very poorly. The music's bad. I'm sorry, I know you love it, Binx. Like I said, there's no consistency to the music, there's no like song, there's no scene, and I know like you're saying it's supposed to be an opera, and that's okay, and that's what we expect, but while watching it, it's just not enjoyable. There's in many cases where we're singing off-key, we're singing off time, it's just it's just not good singing. The music itself didn't really enjoy that at all. And I you know, I know there's different styles of music that you can get in a musical or an opera, but it is just not good. It's just like bad music. I'm so sorry. So that really sours any potential enjoyment of the movie for me, even though I liked the story, I liked some of the costumes, I liked some of the actors. I mean, I think without the music, this would be like a fun sci-fi dark horror kind of situation for me that I would get into. But a major portion of watching this is listening to people sing, listening to that music in the background and trying to get into it, and I'm sorry for that alone it is a hack.

SPEAKER_03 27:32

Well, far be it from me to stop a good train while it's on the tracks. We all talk about how I tend to fall in love with potential, and this movie had so much potential. The problem is that it completely squandered all that potential. When Paris Hilton is the best part of your movie for me, it's a problem. I say that, I don't even know what I mean by that, because I enjoyed her in House of Wax, and that's the only other movie I've seen her in, she did just fine. But this movie should have been a lot more entertaining for the bones that it's built upon. The bones of this, the structure of this, the idea of it are rock solid, but then they kind of just shit the bed with the execution everywhere. I'd be really curious to see what a remake of this looks like. It's 2023, I think it's been enough time. Let's have another go at it, guys. This one is just an absolute hack. I wouldn't even say I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. I'm not even disappointed. This movie makes me feel nothing, and for that, it's an abysmal hack. It's a shame. I I love musicals otherwise.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

An abysmal hack. Let me just compose myself because I haven't even gotten your opinion or uh or heard the Army of Darkness episode. But if I find out that you didn't give an abysmal hack to Northat or Bubba Hotep, even like what are you even talking about? We have seen some abysmal hacks, and you're gonna give this an abysmal hack?

SPEAKER_03 29:11

This movie is everything that I dislike. Let me also point out that I did absolutely hack Bubba Hotep. I did absolutely hack Army of Darkness. I'm absolutely hacking this movie because I just wasn't part of the emo golf movement.

SPEAKER_04 29:26

Alright, you know what? That's fine. I'm look at me, just defending myself in the chat, here, everywhere. Okay, all right, let me just say my piece.

SPEAKER_03 29:34

Binx, I love you so much, and I love that teenager you had this thing to cling on to. This might be for you what Grease 2 is to me. And I get it, I respect it. I just don't like it.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

And that's fair. You know what? Everyone is to their own opinion. You're incorrect, but that's fine. Just kidding. Um look, okay, let's just get to the truth here. I knew that eventually there was gonna be a time where I'd have to out myself for being a complete dork and theater kid, but more importantly, an extreme emo kid. And like we know that about me. I th I think like listeners at this point have gotten that vibe, have hinted it here and there. This is like the epitome of that, I'm sure. I didn't expect that my episode coming back would be like this. I was excited that it was gonna be repo, didn't realize I'd be you know by myself once again, I'm pretty sure, because I was definitely defending Smile. Uh like Sean, you slashed that by a miracle, I think, almost. So thank you for not leaving me alone on that train. But look, I I do want to establish right off the bat that this is either going to hit fantastically, clearly not with this group, but it's gonna hit fantastically, or it is going to be a complete joke to never be watched again due to the cringe, which I guess is the case here. And although this movie absolutely flopped in the off in the box office, it did not flop in my heart. And we know this by now, okay? It was a pivotal part of my high school years. I really know every single word to the song, which pretty much means I know every single word of the entire movie. And that's honestly nuts now that I say that out loud, actually. It's just so much nostalgia, and yes, the songs some are like really bad. And I and I do agree with you, Mac, on that front, but like it's a good kind of bad. And I guess maybe that's what it is, you know. Like, I'm not a big fan of the Bubba Hoteps and the Evil Deadness, or maybe other B movies that we've probably seen or about to see, but like this is my B movie, you know? And that's okay. We're all allowed that. It's not stellar, but it's my kind of stellar. So I am giving it a slash for all of my 2000s emo kids out there that were in this niche fandom like me. And at the very least, I'm dedicating this to the grave robber and blind mag because they are worth every second.

SPEAKER_03 32:01

I love that for you, and so proud of you, Binks. Thank you for having the courage to stand alone. Well, there you have it, folks. Repo, the genetic opera from 2008, has earned three pretty intense hacks and one almost more intense slash. Now you can't find this movie streaming online, so go check it out. Then join us in the second half so we can drag this music together. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_04 32:35

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SPEAKER_03 33:27

Welcome back, folks. Repo, the genetic offer from 2008 as chosen by our patrons, has earned three hacks and one slash. Now we certainly have a lot to get into here to unpack those ratings, but before we do, Sean, let's go through the kills.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Yeah, so we have a decent amount of kills in this one. If we're just counting what we actually see happen, there are 16 on-screen deaths or kills rather. If you count the pictures of confirmed repo kills, the dead bodies hanging, caskets getting carried, and the mass amount of dead bodies laying around everywhere throughout this movie, the kill count is probably in the hundreds, if not thousands.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

I mean, honestly. Also think about the credit scores that have been murdered in this film.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Lives ruined. Absolutely. But what were your all-favorite kills?

SPEAKER_04 34:17

Okay, well, I'm just gonna say right off the bat, it might be maybe uh someone else's favorite kill, but there's one scene in particular that is a that is a kill that is just haunting, memorable, beyond belief. It's been a favorite moment of mine from the movie, and it is Blind Mag's death. I remember the first time that I saw the movie, I cried, which in hindsight now probably seems ridiculous to all three of you, but that's fine. Mac nodding his head. Yeah, so it it just crushed me for real. And it's just a such an intense moment for me. It's the most impactful, I think. Blind Mag essentially, not only singing so beautifully, Sarah Brightman, an classically trained opera singer, a Broadway singer, it's one of the best songs in the whole movie, in my opinion. But in the final lines where she's like, I'd rather be blind, you know. If you take my eyes, I'd rather be blind. It's kind of like, man, her self, her last moment is like kind of taking that power back that was removed from her for so many years. It's just, and it's so gory and so harsh in front of everyone on stage. So definitely incredible.

SPEAKER_03 35:29

I love that you found such a really deep moment of beauty in there. I remember the second she started to kind of like gouge her own eyes out, I was like, oh shit, this is getting intense. And while I can acknowledge that there's plenty of emotional depth there, my favorite kill is one that is actually far more campy. It's the moment when the repo man is repoing, and this man is affixed to a table, and he guts him and then uses his hand all the way up by his mouth to then make him a Muppet. It was absolutely fucking hilarious. It was just this high-pitched got to do it. I just I love the Muppet moment there. It was a it was a goofiness that was uh really giving us uh some insight into as complex as this character is, some of his madness, and I really, really enjoyed that. It's uh the good old thankless job song. Best part of that song is got to do it.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

My favorite kill is also a repossession, and that is a dude getting repo's upside down with his gut tripped out, and then the spine getting taken out with a frickin' barcode on it.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

The audacity. I absolutely thought like this would have been so much better as just a black comedy. I really think it would have been better as as an actual like horror comedy, take the singing out because it has those moments like the song Chris was talking about, like the barcode on this dude's spine. It's just there's so many little little things here that I think are actually actually funny that get muddled by the you know, the whole singing thing.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Yeah, absolutely. There was a lot of really grotesque kills in this one. I think the kill where the dude is getting slashed up by Nathan or the repo, and everyone is standing around like singing and loving it, right? You've got like Roddy and you know his his two sons or whatever, they're all standing around like loving it and singing, and you just see the aftershot of the dude sitting in the chair with his stomach opened up. That was a crazy kill. But I gotta say, if Roddy truly died from organ failure, that is the best and most ironic kill or death of them all.

SPEAKER_04 37:47

Absolutely. It I think that's really the whole point is that this man has made his entire career and is so evil for doing this to thousands, right? You said hundreds, maybe thousands of people. This entire society depends on him in one way or another, whether whether it's addiction to the knife, you know, or if it's to literally survive. And he just gets to have a natural death. How absurd.

SPEAKER_03 38:16

All those kills aside, let me just zero in on a guy who did so much killing in this movie, and that is the repo man himself. I absolutely loved the design of the repo man costume. It was giving suit of armor, while obviously not a suit of armor, but when he was unmasked and kind of just like laying on the ground, we have like these little bit of like zips and chains on. I was like, in a weird way, you could I I could see you in the Hellraiser universe.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

I s I see that. I feel that. I did enjoy his look, especially the glowing mask. I thought that was definitely the coolest part.

SPEAKER_04 38:53

You know, and while we're talking about costume design, I agree. Like the repo costume is extremely cool. You mentioned this a while back, Sean. I I agree that there are some costume decisions that are like very cheap and it shows. Something that I found very interesting is that Amber Sweet's costumes and a lot of the women that are in the support group, like the girls that are in that scene of Zydrian Anatomy specifically, they're actually wearing Paris Hilton's own clothing. Like she decided what her like what Amber Sweet was gonna look like, and it's what got her the role to begin with. The director didn't even want to have Paris Hilton in the movie, and when she showed up for the audition, she was dressed the way that he envisioned Amber Sweet, and so she kind of just got to own that costume design. So I think it worked out really, really well. I I love like her costume designs. I like blind mags as well, but there are definitely some yikes, other costume design decisions for other people that are just not so great. Some of the makeup I think is really cool. Overall, we talked a little bit about the vignette lighting and like the haziness earlier. I actually don't know how I land on that. What do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_03 40:11

Oh, I for sure hated it.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:13

Every second of it. It was shot in 16mm film, and I'm like, get the fuck out of here, you don't belong here.

SPEAKER_04 40:19

Well, because I think it's like I can I guess maybe to make it dreamy and ethereal, but that's not or you know what? Actually, I think the purpose might have been more to make it gothic and dark, but it didn't really land for me that way. It was just giving 2000s, and like again, one that era was really shown in the way that it was filmed.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

There are moments of the flashback scenes that we get to his marriage to Marnie, which obviously this man is still ancient in these flashbacks that were allegedly 16 or 17 years ago, whatever. There are moments that those flashbacks reminded me of the weird fucking like snuff films that we see in House of a Thousand Corpses. Couldn't stand it. Bill Mosley strikes again.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Well, hold on, hold on. Bill Mosley, we'll get it, we'll get to it in characters. Not his greatest performance, but he was still good in other things. So let's not let's not let's not drag House of a Thousand Corpses into this one.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

All I'm saying is I see this man a lot and I like him only in the little.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Listen, you put these two movies together, which one are you picking? That's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 41:29

She's coming for you, Sean. She's coming for you. I'm only picking like 34-35% of House of a Thousand Corpses, not even the whole thing. The rest of it can stay there.

SPEAKER_02 41:39

Oh boy. Yeah, I mean, the the hazy, whatever quality, not a fan of. It just, like I said earlier, it just made me think of just those weird reenactment ghost story, like TV shows or whatever. And like those are are good for what they are, but when you drag that quality into a feature-length film, it just takes away from any like good quality feeling of the of the whole film. But my favorite visual element in this film was uh was really just the set design, right? I I really think I loved the gothic tone that the film had. I think from that standpoint it looked really great. Like everything was really mc macabre and dark and spooky, and I really enjoyed looking at that gothic, you know, just tone and that gothic uh set design.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

See, the practical set work in this was actually pretty great, which makes it all the more bewildering that they went as hard as they did on some of the CGI bullshit that they went to.

SPEAKER_04 42:44

And I'm pretty sure that everything was filmed on one soundstage. Like the set was literally on one soundstage.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

I bet.

SPEAKER_04 42:50

I bet I'm done. I'm done.

SPEAKER_03 42:53

I mean, when you send that spend that much money on two classically trained singers, you can't really afford more soundstages.

SPEAKER_04 42:59

Actually, though. I'm kidding. Actually, Sarah Brightman was the cheaper option. They casted Sarah Brightman because they couldn't afford to get someone more A-list. So fun fact for you on that one.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

And I'm sure they still paid her more than most of the other people in the movie.

SPEAKER_04 43:19

I don't I don't have those kinds of receipts, but the thing about Sarah Brightman is that she this is her first film debut, but she's the original, you know, Christine Dae. She's Angeloyd Weber's ex-wife. She's known to be very prominent in Broadway and opera. And nonetheless, she was the cheaper option. And thank God for it, because if they had spent more money on someone like more well known that clearly didn't know how to sing, for someone as prominent as Blind Mag and that kind of character, y'all probably would have hated this movie more than you did already. And that's already saying a lot, clearly.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

So well, I want to go back to some visuals that you mentioned because before deciding a favorite. I have to say, my one of my least favorite visuals is the makeup you mentioned. I think the makeup that they did for a lot of the cast here was horrendous. Alexa Pinavega is absolutely stunning, but her character looks like she smells like farce and perfume. I'm so sorry. But there's just no way around it.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

First off, that's hilarious. My struggle is that I saw her on Dancing with the Stars and have become so absolutely fucking annoyed with her and her husband that I just want nothing to do with her ever. I don't want to see her in anything. I like start cringing as soon as I see her name in the credits.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

Okay, which is fair because, right, agree her as an individual now, not Stellar whatsoever. But hold on a second, this was 2008. Like it wasn't much long after Spy Kids, for Christ's sake. So, you know.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

I know that's true.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

Well, I I just don't know much about you know all of all the actors. I'm I'm gonna take it back to what my actual favorite visual is. And it has to do with makeup, but it's not the makeup they chose for most of the actors. It is the makeup we use for people who have been like modified to the point where we can tell. So when we get like the face falling off, or or just literally the brother's face that is stapled on, love that look. Chest scars, abdominal scars from obvious surgeries, uh some people at the big group at the end where we can see a bunch of surgical scars. I think they just did a really, really cool job with making people look mangled. And it reminded me a lot of uh this species in Star Trek Voyager called the Videans, who are a species that are just like genetically doomed and they're having to constantly steal organs out of other species and like modify them, replace their own because they continue to fail. And uh I'll I'll put a picture in the chat so everyone can see kind of what I'm talking about. But it it reminded me a lot a lot a lot like that. And I just think like it made it made this society look like they were trying to tell us it was, because there was a lot of telling going on. But I think this was the the makeup that they chose for this did a really good job at showing us how how bought into the idea of this self-mutilation everyone is here.

SPEAKER_04 46:09

For sure. And I think you also kind of see a brief moment of that too when she is telling her dad, like Roddy, like, look at what's happened to me from being so addicted as well. So yeah, I can see that for sure.

SPEAKER_03 46:21

I just gotta say, these clowns are out here paying for these surgeries, and Freddie Kruger got that shirt for free.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

Look, as as the reigning, I guess, the the president of the fan club here in terms of repo, my favorite scene. I keep talking about Blind Mag, but she is one of my favorite characters, I would say, is when she introduces herself to Shiloh, because I think it has like the best of everything in the movie. You're introduced to Sarah Byrman's Incredible Pipes. I'll get off my soapbox about her, but that's the moment for sure. Her costume, again, we've talked a little bit about it. It hits in some places, doesn't hit in others, but Blind Mag's costumes, particularly in that one with the black veil and her eyes, like it's so creepy, incredibly cool, though. And I think as far as what the song is saying, it's like opportunity that Blind Mag has, the only opportunity that she has, not only to introduce herself, but to also say goodbye to Shiloh and say, you know, all the hopes and dreams that she would have wanted to say to Shiloh if she had all of these 17 years with her. Because at that point, Blind Mag has already made a decision on what she's gonna do, come that performance time. So it's kind of like, gosh, all the years that she wished that she could have had with Shiloh, but doesn't. So let me just cram in and tell you who I am, how much you mean to me, and what I hope for you in the future.

SPEAKER_03 47:46

Okay, so that moment was actually my favorite scene as well. That is the closest this movie got to being good for me. It was the emotional bits of, you know, the this woman who clearly would have loved to spend this time with the daughter of her best friend, her very best friend. And to think about all the years that are lost between that, and I think about like, man, how would I feel if, you know, I didn't get to spend any time at all with my niece, and I saw her all of a sudden after 16 or 17 years, and you know, her parent is dead, and now all I have are these memories of who that person was, and then I see them before me in the form of their child. Like that's an intense moment. I think my other favorite scene is actually kind of going back to a bit of the gore that Mac was talking about just a moment ago, and as campy as this is, my favorite scene is Paris Hilton's face falling off on stage because holy shit, that was just comedic, and I loved it. It added a moment of levity in a moment where I really needed it.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

It gave me some Doctor Who moisturized me kind of vibes, and I and I love it.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Yeah, I mean, I I like pieces of a couple of different scenes throughout the movie. I I know the scene that you're all talking about, like I I loved even the the beginning going into that scene, that whole opera scene towards the end where everyone is making their entrance, and you see like the the funniest thing in the whole movie, which is the granny DJ. That was hilarious for sure. I loved that whole part. But I even loved like the scene where the grave robber and Shiloh are collecting like the Zydrate stuff out of the dead bodies, and they go, you know, they're running from I don't know what they're the police, if you will, and they go into the cave or landfill or whatever, full of like thousands of dead bodies. That was a pretty cool scene, a pretty cool shot for sure.

SPEAKER_04 49:41

He just takes that dead body and uses it as a freaking like I don't even know what those things are called. It's just a knock down that walls. Yeah, so ruthless. The battering ram.

SPEAKER_00 49:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

That word. Yep. He uses a body to be that.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

That that scene, especially since it happens at basically the beginning of the movie, gave me so much hope for the movie because it was like you said, it was really cool and also very funny the fact that he does that. And he does it in a really comical way, just like absolutely doesn't give an F and just crashes that wall down with that corpse. It was like, okay, this could be something I could absolutely get into. It lied, but yeah, it was, it gave me hope.

SPEAKER_03 50:17

Oh man, it's because that whole moment had so much potential. But let me just say that dialing back a few moments before that, before she interacts with the grave robber and she's just there trying to catch an insect with her books in the crypt and she's looking outside. Very early on in this movie, I thought, man, this is just Sally from a nightmare before Christmas, with her dad or parental figure being a doctor who's trying to keep her locked away, and she keeps trying to escape and discover new things, and I'm just like, alright. And again, maybe this is just my Alex Pinavega bias. Maybe maybe that's what's showing here. But I just found for as complex as a lot of the characters in this movie are, and I really, really enjoyed them, I found her to be the most boring character in the whole movie.

SPEAKER_00 51:08

But she was giving like Evanescence music video vibes. Isn't that fun?

SPEAKER_03 51:13

No, because Evanescence in a music video is fun. I don't need Alex Pinavega trying to give me those vibes in a movie.

SPEAKER_04 51:20

How dare you bring up Evanescence. But I will say though, that Shiloh actually is not that great either. And although I do like this movie, I have to agree, like, she's not great, quite annoying, actually. I'm not really sold on like her singing voice. So when we talk about, you know, the singing voices of some of these actors and stuff like that, yeah, okay, fine. Yes, she is one of them.

SPEAKER_03 51:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 51:43

That I would put up there.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

Look at us go agreeing on things. Two sides of the aisle come together.

SPEAKER_04 51:49

Finally, right? No, no. But I mentioned earlier about a scene in particular that disappointed me that like absolutely annoyed me. And some of the people in the chat guessed correctly. It is the 17th song that apparently I guess all of you probably don't even remember, but it was bad. Um Wow, I love how all of you shaked, shook your head.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Oh, we remember it. It is it is one of the most audacious songs in this film.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:15

And I don't say that as a compliment.

SPEAKER_03 52:18

No, literally all the songs put together were equally bad to me. So I can't tell you one that significantly stings out. I can't tell you one that significantly sticks out.

SPEAKER_00 52:27

I think if you went back and watched it right now, it would stick out like a sore thumb, especially with like the dancing teddy bear in the background and being freer now that she's no longer 16. It was so out of place. It was just like really silly.

SPEAKER_03 52:44

Oh, the I hate my dad song, the rebellious moment song, the I should have like a super sweet 16 song, the Veruca Salt but make it emo song. Fuck her.

SPEAKER_04 52:55

So you do remember it.

SPEAKER_03 52:56

Don't care how I want it now. And that's a better musical than this shit.

SPEAKER_04 53:00

Okay, we already established that you feel that way. Okay, you don't need to rub it in. My god.

SPEAKER_03 53:06

Binx, I want you to know that I love you so much. You are one of my favorite beings.

SPEAKER_04 53:10

Yeah, and it doesn't make a difference. It doesn't make a difference. It should no, it doesn't. No, but really, that 17th song, it I agree, Mac, completely off-putting, completely waste of time. And it is the song that I wholeheartedly and very quickly, very swiftly, skip. That entire scene, I just skip on over to the next part because also it concludes with the dad basically slapping her in the face, which is obviously fucked up when we really get into the nitty-gritty of how fucked up of an individual he is. So just the two of them, honestly, are actually not my favorite part of the movie. And it's funny because they're the main characters.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Yeah, they're a huge part.

SPEAKER_04 53:51

And I guess, like, okay, fine. How do I like this movie when the two main characters suck? Well, let's put out the long list of main characters that I don't enjoy. Literally, sorry, I'm Carpenter.

SPEAKER_03 54:03

So there we go. I would like to take this moment to channel the late Paris and say, hurt people, hurt people. That's all.

SPEAKER_04 54:14

Okay, but hurt people, hurt children and poison them?

SPEAKER_03 54:19

Listen, I'm not saying I like the guy, I'm just saying they're all fucked.

SPEAKER_02 54:23

They're all fucked.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

It's just a little, you know, Munchhausen by proxy. Just everybody needs them now and then, right?

SPEAKER_02 54:29

You know what I think it is? I think, and I could be wrong, but from what I've gathered, it seems like a lot of people latch onto this movie purely because of Grave Robber and Blind Mag. And yeah, maybe those two were probably the coolest characters in the film, but you know, they they it they just didn't have enough to really carry the film, right? Like, I I think Grave Robber, I liked his character. I like the idea of his character at least. I think his musical segments, if you will, were probably the catchiest for sure. So I think that you can really like that's what I remember from this movie. Like any of the musical songs or whatever you want to call them, I think his ring in my head more than anyone's. Blind Mag, I think she was so gothic and probably one of the coolest looking characters in the whole film. I thought she was one of the better looking characters for sure. Like the those two really carried the film for me, even though they didn't carry the film enough to make it good.

SPEAKER_04 55:34

Which is fair. I mean, Grave Robber is incredible. I think in a way, it is always destined to be a star of the movie. It's literally Terrence. Um, I think last name is Zunich. I can't, I I'm not sure how you pronounce it, but he's the co-creator of Repo. So, you know, when you think about it, of course he was gonna be a main focus. I like the fact that he's like the narrator in a way. It gives a bit of like this Peter Pan vibe because he's not a good person. He's literally take manipulating the situation, but in a sense, he's the only person that can make these organs or at least sidrate accessible. It's like a very odd position to be in, or at least he is. But you know what? Fine. I it it can't be a movie can't be entirely good if it's just about two characters that are great. I don't feel that way, but I can see how you would get to that point. So that's fire.

SPEAKER_03 56:29

Let me tell you though, I think the least annoying character, my favorite character, was Paris Hilton's character. Because man, she was just out here doing wild shit the whole time, and I didn't mind a single minute of it. I did appreciate that she felt the most redeemable, maybe not like actually, right? But the two brothers couldn't stand them. What the fuck was this like okay, Bill Mosley's performance to Luigi and how we're introduced to him and the shit that he's singing about sex in general, absolutely disgusting.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

Well, one, I don't even know if you can say that he was singing because it was pretty bad, but I'm sorry, the screeching. If we're talking when we're talking about Amber Sweet, right, and Paris Hilton's performance, right? I I think one, I mean, I don't know if I could say that she's the favorite character of mine, but I think it was really it was really funny because that whole segment when we're introduced to her and Grave Robber and she's doing that kind of like risque dance is the moment that my wife walked into the room and she's like, What the fuck are you watching right now? And I'm like, I don't even fucking know, honestly. I really don't even know.

SPEAKER_03 57:38

Yikes. Wow, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

Can we confirm whether or not the two siblings were indeed hooking up? Amber and Luigi, is that not a thing? Because, you know, there I was picking up some vibes. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 57:49

I mean, so is the other sibling, and it is a a lyric, but he they weren't. However, he's just like nuts. Like the the son, um, Luigi is definitely not okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:02

Um neither of them are okay. They're both psycho.

SPEAKER_04 58:06

Not uh none of them. Yeah, both of them are completely fucked up. But here's my thing: it's like they're supposed to be like their introduction has to establish very quickly that they're disgusting, terrible scums of the earth, and that is exactly why Roddy Largo needs to find somebody else to take over Gene Co. Like you have to see how disgusting and like atrocious these rich, privileged, like nasty kids are because of their father ultimately. They allow he bred them. He's so disappointed by his children, but he's the reason that they are like that.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

Yeah, I think his his like whole search for for an heir is completely misguided. Like you come up with a group of people that are important in the company, you let them decide a replacement for you. That's how this works. You don't just get to pass off the entire thing, especially when like this company is responsible for apparently keeping masses alive. I still don't buy it. I still like would imagine that they're the ones who caused the organ failure to begin with. So I don't know, it's kind of sus.

SPEAKER_03 59:10

But nepotism.

SPEAKER_04 59:11

One thing I'll say though, as far as Roddy is that there's a point where he's talking about what he did to Marnie and like his whole backstory, and he breaks the fourth wall, looks right in the camera. He's the only one aside from Grave Robber that looks right at the camera and breaks that fourth wall, and it kind of gives me that vibe of like he is so entitled, so powerful, so evil that he's fully aware of what the situation and the story and he does not give a fuck. Like, he knows he he's so confident in his ability and in his power that he will look you dead in the eye and be like, Yeah, I basically killed this woman for not choosing me, and I could care less. I'm also out here killing everyone, and I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 59:57

Like this guy's nuts. Once again, it's giving Sweeney Todd.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:02

Alright, well, look, so you're saying I I see the similarities to Sweeney Todd and Nightmare before Christmas, but Chris, tell me how this resembles the fucking Lion King. I gotta, I gotta hear this.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:16

There's one quote, are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:18

Remember who you are.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:21

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:22

And he says it so many fucking times. You are my son, the one true king, is like, oh, I was waiting to come out next.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:30

Alright, alright.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:31

You know what? I should have seen I should have seen that coming. When you brought up Lion King, that should have been the song that came to mind. But let's talk about Repo, man, just super fast and how atrocious this dad is. Like I know sometimes we talk about like worst dads in horror. Please tell me. Where he's a pretty high contender for the awards. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:53

There are several layers here. Objectively on the shitty dad scale. Pretty fucking far high up on that scale, right? Terrible father, made terrible decisions. What I think is fascinating though, is understanding where he falls in terms of like what is actually him being a bad person, what is him succumbing to his own madness, and what is him responding to a world that was only created because he was manipulated this way. Like it's very much like thinking back to Sweeney's Hodd. He he kind of had his whole life upended and completely fucked up with the judge, right? Like, had that not happened, who knows who he could have been or or what he could have done. And you think about his murderous traits, and it's like, did he do it because he was pushed to do it, or did he do it because that evil was always inside him? So I think the same thing about the repo man here, because on the one hand, he still has some sense of morality, right? Like he doesn't want to hurt blind Mag. He completely refuses to do that job, knowing that there is going to be some consequence to him. Now, again, to continue to weaken your daughter or, you know, to keep her locked up inside, shuttered away because you're so afraid of the world and you feel this guilt from your understanding of how you like murdered her mom, really fucking intense. Absolutely. I'm not saying I like the guy by any means, but I am saying that he's an interesting character.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:29

Yeah, I think in terms of how like dynamic some of the characters are, he is one of the better ones, especially because that reveal at the end that he has been poisoning her kind of flies in the face of what we were built up to believe about him, which is you know, he's torn. He he has to do the right thing when it comes to his family. Uh it's it's a tragedy that he doesn't know that his wife was poisoned, but you know, then he separates that from his job. But then when we find out that he's secretly been poisoning her the entire time, like, damn, okay, like this went kind of hard. And this, I think, points to that thing where this this movie has a lot of really good potential, especially when it comes to its characters, though. And I think he is able to like separate the two worlds out to the point where his daughter doesn't apparently know what he does for a living, seems pretty questionable. His motives for keeping her safe, yeah, we get it. You want her to be safe, and the world is insane. People are getting killed because they didn't pay their payment for their organs or whatever. But you can't poison your own kid, man. That's completely screwed up.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:28

And then I I again I wonder. Yes, he has this love of her allegedly as his daughter, but is there resentment there? Knowing that and I guess that I wonder this sometimes about like when, you know, a a mother makes a choice for the baby's life to be saved instead of hers, or women who died die in childbirth. Is there a layer of resentment that carries on after that? I would hope not, absolutely, but is that what that poisoning was? Or is it just looking for a sense of control because he lost that control when he couldn't save Barney? Not Bing's going to get me.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:11

No, you just have me thinking more about it, right? His character has always been complex and layered, but I think I struggle a bit with the dynamic between him and Shiloh is probably like one that I didn't buy into as much as I needed to for them being the main characters. And we talked a little bit earlier about what this would have been like if this was not a musical and just like a black horror, you know, or horror comedy, even right, like that kind of thing. Maybe I would have bought in a little bit more. Maybe I would have felt like he was more complex and like really torn between these decisions and the effect of what the environment has created, like you were saying, Chris. I just I don't know if I really got that from the way he was portrayed. He just came off like someone who just completely lost himself and was kind of like a little selfish at the end of the day, but I don't know. I think in general, it's not necessarily like I wouldn't say that they are the worst part of the movie for me, but I mean, although the irony is that you guys are probably like well, the worst part is the entire movie. Um so there's that. I think like it's just maybe the Largo children or them in particular, like it's some of the characters I would have liked to have seen more fleshed out, if possible. That would have meant that the movie would be longer, though, and you guys probably would have hated that. So it's just kind of like I'm torn, right? There's some characters that I would have wanted to spend more time with. So that to Sean, your point earlier, blind mag and grave robber weren't the biggest takeaways. Um, so call it a disappointment, call it the worst part, but that's kind of where I'm at with the movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:00

Let me tell you that I watched this movie with ads, and God, that was the longest hour and a half of my life. Because it just kept getting extended, prolonged. It was it was on honestly an awful experience. But look, the best part of this movie, I said it before, I'll say it again. Parasilton. Parasilton is the best part of this fucking movie, hands down.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

Oh my.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

Performance of a lifetime.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:25

The best part of this movie for me, as I mentioned before, is the set design for the movie. If they didn't go with that weird ghost story TV show vibe, bullshit, it would have been all the better. Give me a better quality picture, and it would have made a world of difference. They could do without the whole musical aspect of it, but maybe if they just kept going with the vibes that the grave robber gave with his musical segments, it would have been a better musical. I don't know. But overall, yeah, the set design and the whole dark gothic look of the film was the best part for me. From that standpoint alone, visually it was pretty cool. So yeah, that's my best part.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:02

I think the best part of the movie was the synopsis. And hold on a minute. I don't mean that to be rude. I think the story here is definitely the best part. I think when you look at it, when you consider the characters that we have in play, the structure of the story, the way that we can build towards a crescendo, I think it's actually quite effective. Um, I think it's very good. I just think that the actual execution is what was poor in this. But I know that, you know, when you have a musical, other people can put on a production of this musical. And I'm curious what it was like on stage. I don't know if the uh music was improved because it was like professional singers doing it. I'm not saying I'm I'm against finding out one day. I just I'm curious if a different version of this would have been executed better because the underlying structure there, the underlying foundation and everything, I think was was very solid, like Chris mentioned earlier. It's interesting when you read what's going into this, you're like, oh, okay, like this could be this could actually be really cool. But I just think this film's execution of it kind of ruined that.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:01

Which is uh interesting because when they wrote this, it was actually meant to be a three-part movie. So there was supposed to be a prequel and a sequel to it to kind of really see the whole thing through. Um so I mean, at this point, the creators, they've lost the rights to the franchise. So honestly, who knows? I mean the the bones of this could actually find its way in another movie somewhere somehow.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:28

Not these folks pulling a fucking Sam Raimi and losing the rights to their own shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:33

That's exactly what happened, actually. And they ended up making um another movie called The Devil's Carnival afterwards with like this other shorts uh stories and stuff like that that they had created because yeah, they lost the rights to the franchise. Wow, actually, yeah, very Sam Raimi.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:50

Sam Raimi has fixed this shit several times now. All you gotta do is say previously on Repo the Genetic Opera, remake that movie in the first two minutes of the fucking next movie, and then continue that shit on. It's fine. Why the fuck are they making this so hard?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:05

Yeah. Forget everything you watched before and then watch this.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:09

Yeah, but you know, like Freddy Krueger Leatherface, that's what you need to know previously in the genetic opera. That's that's really all that carries through. And let me tell you this. I would be open to seeing a different version of this movie, but not this one. Folks, if you are new to our show as you were listening to this episode, you may not know that we live stream our recording sessions for our patrons, and earlier in the chat, Mac pointed out what I think is a brilliant fucking idea. Give us Lynn Manuel with A24 to remake this movie. I'd be down for that. I could get into it.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:51

Guys, Lynn Manuel, although I love a Puerto Rican king, is not like, you know, the savior of musicals all around.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:58

For sure, he's not, but again, I'd fucking rather do that than this.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:04

I don't think it's surprising that I don't want to watch this again. I, during the middle of watching this, was at a point in life where I was trying to decide if I could continue because I was like, I it's just so cringe. And I thought about texting Chris and being like, I just can't do it. Like, I'm sorry, I gotta, I gotta take this one, you gotta take the L, you know, I can't I can't make it through. I made it through, you know, and I and I'm glad that I did, obviously, because it's it's for the pod. You gotta do what you can do for the pod. But if you were to sit me down in a chair and ask me, hey, can you watch it again? Can we pay you? I would say, no, thank you. I'll I'll I'll be poor instead.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:45

I highly doubt that I'm gonna find myself watching this one again. I did the thing, I saw it. I don't get the following this movie has. I'm good on this one. Catch me at the Rocky Horror fucking picture show.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:57

As you all have said your piece, you know what I'm thinking in my head is why is it, once again, why is it that we're talking so passionately about this movie? Like like you guys are so passionate about hating this movie. And we've seen the mean one. I don't even remember you guys talking about the mean one. Like you guys have talked about. Well, Mac, I I you weren't on that episode, so I'll give you some grace, but come on, are you kidding? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:24

I trashed that movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:25

Yeah. I know we trashed that movie, but you guys are talking real hard. It's sounding like this is worse than the mean one.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:32

No, first off, Vinks, I I think it feels worse to you because of how much you love this movie, which I understand would make perfect sense, but for sure, if we roll the tapes, I have complimented this movie several times in this episode, and the mean one didn't get I think a single fucking one for me. Like we fucking roasted the mean one.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:55

Okay. Alright. You know what? Maybe I do have my my fangirl glasses on. And I'm gonna say it one more time for the people that listen to this episode and think, oh, Binx is takes moving forward, she doesn't know shit. I do. I promise that I do. Everyone is entitled to one movie that like is probably bad, but you refuse to believe that it's bad because it's so fun. This is my well, this is not gonna be a great example. I was gonna say this is my army of darkness, but like it kind of is in a way.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:32

Maybe this is your darkness falls for me. Oh, because you like darkness falls? Yeah. Even after all this time, it's still not great, but I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:41

Okay, then that's maybe a better example. Yes, this is my darkness falls. There's a small following of us. It's great, it's entertaining, it's fun, I know every word. It's not actually that good, but it is that good. And for that, I'm gonna say I actually messaged my high school best friend Victor, and I told him that we were doing this episode, and he's gonna come over one of these days, we're gonna have some wine, we're gonna pop in my DVD, and we're gonna re-watch this movie and relive our childhood together and sing every word. So I will be re-watching this once again and um clearly never talking about it with you all ever again. I'll save you guys the agony.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:25

I love this for you so much, Banks. I'm glad that you have a group of people who you can lean on in these difficult, difficult times, these trying times. You have a number of our audience members who also would support you. But look, I know that you're not going to talk to us about this movie in the future, but I do think that Matt can give you a little something. Something was in fact or fiction. God, here we go. True test.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

So for this one, I think Binks, obviously, you need to go second. Sean gets to go first because your passion for this film means you probably know a good bit more, but let's find out. Number one, Bill Mosley and Nivek Ogre, who played Luigi and Pavy Largo, wanted to get the freshest feeling when appearing on screen together so they would avoid rehearsing together or discussing their scenes prior to filming.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:12

I'm gonna go, uh, I don't even know. Fiction.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:15

So I wanna s it it's I don't know which one to pick because I actually know the truth. So I'm I don't know what would be is it a fact or is it a fiction? I'm gonna say fiction, I think is the correct one.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:27

Yeah, this is a fiction. These professionals made up their own character backstories before they would film together.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:34

Correct. And that's I thought it was like, okay, but technically it's fact because they like they didn't rehearse per se, but they wrote they helped write each other's like scenes a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:44

If one part of the statement is a lie, the whole thing's a lie.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:50

That's right. Get nervous. Number two. Number two, Shiloh's munch house and biproxy pills were 100% sugar and started to give Alexa Penavegas toothaches.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:59

100% sugar and getting toothaches, which would mean she's chewing on them. I don't know. I'm still gonna say fiction on this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:10

It is, they were mints, which uh I guess are kind of also made of a bunch of sugar. So you take that either way.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:15

There we go, Darkness Falls.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:17

Imagine how fresh her breath must have been, just having all those tic-tacks, but yet somehow her voice still wasn't great.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:24

Number three, they're filming the movie, they're having a great time, but guess what? The set caught on fire.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:30

Oh dang. The set caught on fire.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:33

Some might say it was the phantom of the genetic opera.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:37

That's a good one. I don't know. Um, we'll go fact, see what happens.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:43

Yeah, this actually might be a fact. I think I know something about Alexa Vega actually, that something happened to her because of a fire? I don't know. I maybe? What's the answer?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:55

This one is a fact. There were some leaves on the set, and you know, you have open flames and leaves, and they go together, and um, yeah, that causes a fire.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:04

Okay, so did something happen do we know if like something actually happened to her?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:08

That takes us to our final number four. That Alexa Pinavega also caught on fire, thanks to the fire caused by the leaves around the set.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:19

Oh my god, wait, so fact, yeah, right? Like her did her What got on fire though? Like, what about her got on fire?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:28

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:28

Maybe I don't know. I I think I think it might be fact, because I think I heard that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:33

I don't want to give up the streak here, but there's some details in there that could be fiction with a fact in there, so I'm just gonna go fiction for the fun of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:42

Thanks, I'm so sorry. This one's a fiction. Woo! Yeah, so it wasn't due to that fire, but separately, her hair almost got caught on fire because you have a bunch of torches around you. Uh again, fire, hair. The two of them go together very well.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:59

Wow. Whoa, okay, so there were two incidents of fire in this production? Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:05

Nearly.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:06

Nearly.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:06

Lots of negligence in the 2008. Nah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:09

Yeah. You know, they were all they're all fired up to make this movie.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:13

Wow, Sean beat me. You know what is hilarious? What is amazing to me is Don't even say Sean's scoring better on this fact of fiction than in the classic Morris Karlo Karloff film that uh we covered previously.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

Oh my gosh, I was just thinking that.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:33

Yeah, the gag is that I actually scored a hundred on the on that uh episode's fact of fiction, and I knew nothing. Sean didn't, and now I know a fuck ton about Repo. He scored a hundred, I didn't. What is happening?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:49

You know what it was? Um, you gave me a detail that I could use to make you think you knew the answer, and it was your own downfall.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:57

Hoisted by my own patard.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:59

And that's been fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:01

Well, there you have it, folks. Repo the genetic hopper from 2008 has earned three passionate hacks and one passionate slash. We certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:13

We want to know what you think, but don't be too harsh on me if you really think that this is a hack. You can let us know by joining our conversations in our Discord. It's for free, and you can click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:26

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode more than three of us enjoyed the music in this movie, consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hackerslash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:38

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, let your life be a dream.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:43

Sometimes I wonder how we ever got here.