Chattanooga Film Festival 2025 Coverage
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma review
A revenge fever dream that mixes the truth with a bloody fantasy.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma
Directed by Shane Brady
Written by Shane Brady
Starring Chandler Riggs, Owen Atlas and Collin Thompson
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma Review
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma (which, SEO be damned, will heretofore be referred to simply as Hacked) is a unique little movie. It’s based on a true story…for about two minutes. What follows is a wild revenge fantasy that angrily imagines retribution for what happened in reality. It’s absurd, in entertaining ways. The anger behind the intentions is real…even as Santa Claus helps torture the focal point of that anger. Yeah…it’s different. A high energy faced paced fever dream of unbridled vengeance type of different.
You need look no further than the plot summary on IMDB to put Hacked’s strange world into perspective:
“In 2021, ordinary people Shane Brady and Emily Zercher were hacked. $20,000 stolen. This story begins based on those true events. The rest? What we wish we could have done to that bastard.”
That’s about as concisely as Hacked can be accurately summarized. Shane Brady writes, directs and stars in the fantasy surrounding the real world theft that his family suffered. The names have been changed…but the purpose remains true to itself. The Chameleon (Chandler Riggs) uses wire fraud to rob 20 grand from the family. A simple spelling of a name (Sara/Sarah) allows him access to the family’s downpayment on a new home. An innocent mistake that leads to ultimate heartache.
Hacked takes two paths with the story that follows. First, and flashiest, is the revenge the family seeks on The Chameleon. This is the fantasy element of the story. Something that will be clear long before it gets to Santa showing up angry about The Chameleon hacking him and wiping out his naughty or nice database. His Florida man cave houses one of the most over the top comedic torture scenes you’ll find anywhere. The climax of the movie involves impossible magic resurrections allowing the torture to continue for as long as the wronged party wants it to.
The other path involves hints at what actually happened in the aftermath of the theft. Unhelpful institutions and broken systems abound. Hacked humorously lets us know when something that really happened is included in the story. Humorously for us…who aren’t experiencing the widespread failure in reality. For Brady and his family (a funny final reveal about the exact nature of which punctuates an entertaining journey to get there) it’s more like the gallows humor of living through a nightmare.
When the institutions that are supposed to protect you fail as spectacularly as they do here…you can understand why one’s mind would wander towards fantasies of beautiful undercover CIA agents and Saint Nicholas himself would join your search for the guy who did it to you. That’s what gives Hacked its power. The genuine emotions behind its comedic vengeance. No matter how off the rails Hacked chooses to go…and it chooses to go…it remains grounded by a sense of fulfillment. Wish fulfillment, sure…but it is quite fulfilling.
The cast is completely in on the mission statement. Some moments feel like a Scooby Doo episode where everyone who needs to shows up at the right place at the right time to stand around and watch a wacky thing happen. It’s appropriate for the tone that Hacked is going for. Entertaining above all else, Hacked leans into its wildest impulses at every turn. The result is a quick moving and one of a kind movie. A movie that invites you to dream big about the revenge you’d take on the person who ruined your life. Revenge without consequences…revenge without rules. It finds that the best revenge is not, in fact, served cold. It’s served repeatedly.
Scare Value
Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma is a refreshingly original movie. It uses real world pain to craft a fantastical revenge story. More importantly, it has fun with the concept from start to finish. You can feel the anger the story stems from coming through. Turning it into a bonkers revenge fantasy is an inspired call. Hacked knows how to turn pain into pleasure. By brining pain to the person who deserves it.
