Navigating life has become significantly more difficult in nearly every aspect. Nefarious people will do anything they can to get your information with the hopes of scoring a few of your hard-earned bucks. I’ve personally gone through seven credit cards in the past year because my apartment building uses an unsecured payment portal. I can’t go one day without getting multiple “unpaid EZ Pass” texts. Unknown callers spam my phone daily. Fake recruiter emails constantly clog my inbox. I, and many others, take relief in knowing that someone like Scammer Payback wastes the time of these evil scammers. But it’s not enough. What if someone, legitimately, got these malicious maniacs back? That’s exactly what we get with Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma.
The True Story Behind Hacked
The first 10 minutes are based on a true story; everything else? Well, it’s just what we wished had happened. In 2021, Mark (Shane Brady) and Amy Rumble (Augie Duke), along with their kids Ralph (Owen Atlas) and Freddy (Collin Thompson), lost $20,000 of savings they were saving for a new house. Famed hacker The Chameleon (Chandler Riggs) thought the Rumbles were just another mark. He couldn’t have been more wrong. Along with the CIA and Santa Claus (Richard Riehle), the Rumbles take sweet solace in a haphazard revenge plan to get their money back… Or, at least, to make sure The Chameleon feels their pain.
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma is an absolute blood-soaked riot. Writer/director Shane Brady’s latest rage piece is over the top in the most viciously fun ways possible. Brady has crafted a very smart film and handles its touchy subjects well. It’s obviously not a call for violence, but it’s an hour and a half long thought experiment of what if. Hacked is brash, garishly lit and colored, and unapologetically violent. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun watching a movie.
Redefining Horror Comedy
What’s weird about Hacked is that it made horror comedy endearing to me. Horror comedy is my least favorite subgenre, but Brady’s take on the matter is overwhelmingly fresh and unique. Shane Brady has popped up here and there throughout horror over the past few years, and I hate to say this, but getting hacked might have been the best thing for his career. Everyone, including myself, complains that many horror films lack a level of originality. Hacked is truly one of the most original films I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma is a film you cannot miss. I doubt there is a single person out there who hasn’t been on the receiving end of a phishing scam. And those who have fallen for it (understandably) will get nothing but joy out of this hyper-violent experience. It’s always difficult to tell people to “go see” a film when it’s mainly running on festival circuits. Screw that! Drop everything you’re doing and FIND a festival near you that’s screening this film. In a world where every piece of news we get is nothing but depressing (and oppressive), a film like Hacked feels like unbuckling your belt after a large meal. It’s poignantly positive and wonderfully grotesque!
