I love this movie, and I don't normally like musicals.
(Ignore Chicago, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods... seriously, I don't like musicals... these are exceptions... really...)
The story is set in the future, when GeneCo, a company specializing in organ replacement surgeries, has saved mankind by perfecting organ transplants. They've created a system where customers can finance their surgeries, obtaining organs they desperately need, but can't necessarily afford at the time. But there's a catch; until that financing is paid off, the organs belong to GeneCo, and if you miss a payment, GeneCo wants its property back. To regain their organs they send out the Repo Man, a special employee who surgically removes the organ, ending the defaulting customer's life in the process.
The current Repo Man is a former doctor who cares for his ailing daughter, Shiloh, who has recently turned 17. Shiloh suffers from the same unnamed condition that took her mother's life before Shiloh was born (her father was able to save her, but at the cost of his wife's life). With Shiloh as his only family left, he keeps her locked away in their house, claiming that she can't leave because of the strict medication schedule needed to keep her sickness at bay.
Like most 17 year olds, Shiloh has found a way around this. She has learned to pick the lock to her door and escape through secret tunnels to the outside world where she collects bugs and revels in being outside (these tunnels are actually used by her father when he's acting as the Repo Man... though she has no idea of his secret identity). While outside, Shiloh encounter the story's narrator, a character called Graverobber (played by one of the opera's writers in both the film and the theatrical productions). Graverobber collects some kind of fluid from corpes to create Zydrate, a drug that takes away the agony of surgery... and is highly addictive. He peddles this drug to addicts on the street. Graverobber gets Shiloh in trouble to save his own skin, and Shiloh is saved from GeneCo's security forces (who mistake her for a graverobber) by the Repo Man (remember, she doesn't know about the Repo Man or that he's her father).
Later Shiloh escapes again, and meets Rotti Largo, the founder and CEO of GeneCo, who is dying of a fatal disease and trying to decide which of his three degenerate children he will leave GeneCo to. Shiloh becomes worried about what will happen to here and flees, being saved by Graverobber (who perhaps feels guilty about using her before). Graverobber educates Shiloh about Zydrate's uses (though he doesn't use it on her), and we encounter Rotti's daughter (Amber Sweet), who is addicted to Zydrate (at the same time that she is in charge of a Zydrate-addict support group) and comes to Graverobber to keep her addiction a secret. Amber is insaely jealous of Blind Mag, GeneCo's most visible representative (Mag has eyes given to her by GeneCo, and is the star attraction of their "genetic opera" which fans flock to in order to testify about how GeneCo has changed their lives, and to hear Mag sing). Amber wants Mag's spotlight badly, and hates comparisons between the two of them (perhaps uncosciously knowing that she can't compete with Mag's voice). When Shiloh makes a comment about Mag around Amber, the dilletante goes into a rage swearing that Mag's spotlight will be her's just as soon as the Repo Man takes care of her.
See, Mag is leaving GeneCo, but there's a fine print to her contract: she got her eyes in exchange for representing GeneCo, and should she ever leave they get the eyes back. Mag is aware of this, and doesn't care. Shiloh is panicked by this, and her panic becomes worse as GeneCo security tracks them down (they're looking for Amber). Graverobber helps Shiloh out again, and gets her home.
There, Shiloh encounters Mag, who turns out to be Shiloh's godmother! Mag had been told that Shiloh had died with her mother, and wants only to meet Shiloh. When Shiloh's father returns Shiloh begs him to help Mag, but the two bicker instead, with Shiloh's father refusing.
The next night is the Genetic Opera, Mag's last performance, and the moment when Rotti plans on revealing his terminal condition and naming his heir. I've left out a lot of background, and I won't continue the tale, because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. It's a great film though, and I highly encourage anyone with a stomach for gory effects (think about what the Repo Man does) to check it out and give it a fair chance.
End of Demented Rambling.
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