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Despite its heritage and progeny, don’t mistake Repo Man for yet another garden variety '80s post apocalypse story. This is a movie that takes place in the shadow of an impending but unnamed holocaust, in a world where bandits, scavengers and junkies have at it not because the world has ended but because it is about to. The movie has the conflicted soul of a naïve, socially conscious teenager filled with barking cynicism toward trickle down economics, religion, pop culture, consumerism, the military-industrial complex and even itself. But the film isn’t trying to prevent the end of the world; its inherent punk rock sensibilities would never allow such a thing. Repo Man espouses a world view of insurrectionist mockery, pegging humanity as an endangered species blissfully sowing the seeds of its own destruction through rampant self entitlement. The film revels in its own ironic world where everyone blames everyone else for society’s ills, blithely unaware that this very lack of general accountability is what dooms us all. Basically, it is that guy you knew in college everyone was just sure would end up going postal one day but somehow managed to end up more successful than all of you. And much like your old college pal, Repo Man is all enigmatic irony – frustrating and revolting, clever and reassuring all at the same time.

So watch it with a friend, reminisce about the 1980s and take a moment to salute the MTV Generation, the Pepsi Generation, Generation X, or any other generation you know of who decided that doing nothing was the way to change the world. And know that after Repo Man, you’ll never look at a plate of shrimp the same way again.

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