Most movies made in the 80's feel cheesy, low budget, and dated because advancements in technology and time in general has not been so kind. Then sometimes time will give you the opposite effect where the cheesy 80's movie is escalated from under the radar to a cult classic, and that's exactly whats happened to Repo Man. This little 1984 classic stars the rat packer himself, Emilio Estevez as Otto, an 18 year old LA punk going no where in his trash bag life with his crime riddled punk friends until a repo man (Hary Dean Stanton) tricks him into stealing a car for him thus recruiting Otto into a job. After learning the ropes from a cast of sketchy and overly boozed repo vets, Otto and his team are on the hunt to beat out the Latinos, the FBI, and the cult freaks to get the $20K bounty on a Chevy Malibu with aliens in the trunk. WHAT? Exactly. This is a sci-fi/fantasy movie with a satirical under tone is a great commentary on life in the 80s lower class and how blaming society for your short comings and turning to the bottle/drugs/crime gets you no where (but killed).
The point of revisiting these old classics, weather time has made them better or worse is mostly for the entertainment value in revisit your youth and this one is basically a time capsule you've just dug up. The movie absolutely screams 80's wasteland LA and has a great punk/new wave sound track (Iggy Pop does the title track) which sets the tone for a fast paced movie in which scenes are quickly cut and tons of dialogue are packed into each. Repo Man offers a great little trip back in time with everything from the cars to the hysterically bad special effects multiply the charm of this strange sci-fi flick and its datedness makes it that much more enjoyable over time. Early on in the film, Otto proudly proclaims "I'm a Repo Man, I take back cars from dildos who don't pay their bills" which instantly kick starts the UFO time machine back to our 80s childhood.
Add your comments