Horrible Turn

He wanted to change the world, but the world changed him.

Glee does Dr. Horrible. More?

Horrible Turn is a Fan Film, an amateur internet musical, based on Joss Whedon's pet project, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's a Prequel to the original events, taking place in The Nineties, when Billy Buddy and Kenny Hammerstein were in high school, and what events transpired to make them who they are today.

Notable is that while made by a group that had no professional experience in film, a good chunk of the actors are in musical theater, giving them a massive edge over the other Youtube sendups. Also of note is that in following in its big brother's footsteps, it has gained quite a bit of press around the internet for boosting fan productions into the limelight, and has been recognized by Joss himself as "itsy kitschy glitzy," which could very well be a compliment. Maybe.

Tropes used in Horrible Turn include:
  • Alliterative Name: Billy Buddy, Katie Kitty.
  • Ascended Extra: Johnny Snow.
  • Big Ham: Hammer, the only way he should be played.
  • Break the Cutie: Intended to show the beginning of Billy's quest to rule the world.
  • Broken Aesop: Deliberately done. As in the original, Hammer takes the time to deliver one with "You're All Winners". "While it may seem - and more specifically be - that I'm the only winner here tonight..."
    • Especially funny given that he answered his question wrong
  • BSOD Song: "Horribleturn".
  • Call Forward: By the bucketload.
    • The musical shows why in particular he wanted to get Penny a "shiny new Austrailia" in "Brand New Day"
    • Billy wants to win the Mathtapalon so he can travel to Australia, plus his crush Katie is an Australian exchange student.
    • Johnny Snow's climatology studies.
      • "I wasn't [vandalizing the thermostat]. But if I was...let's just say that winter would be coming early, and coming often when I'm around."
    • Not only the Evil League of Evil, but Bad Horse, is mentioned on the news.
    • Frozen Yogurt motif.
    • "Are you a doctor?" "Not yet..."
    • "The world is a mess, and I just... need to... fix it."
    • "I can feel it in my bone."
    • "It IS me! It's my hair!"
  • Card-Carrying Villain: The E.L.E. aren't taken seriously when the press find out their name stands for Evil League of Evil, because...c'mon, they call themselves the Evil League of Evil.
  • Christmas Cake: The librarian.
  • Credits Gag: Invisible Man - Chevy Chase.
  • Dark Reprise: "Horribleturn" includes a dark reprise of "No Place On Earth Like Australia".
  • Diegetic Switch: Inverted, when the last of the over-credits music turns out to be sung and played by a character in The Stinger.
  • Downer Ending: Well, it was kind of a given considering the original source material.
  • Everyone Went to School Together: Billy, Hammerstein, and Johnny Snow, for sure. Moist would have, but see Jossed above.
  • Fake Nationality: The actress playing Katie puts up a pretty good Australian accent.
  • Foregone Conclusion: You just know poor Billy's not going to be able to go to Australia...
  • Fridge Brilliance: Kenny drinking the super-concentrated Love Potion #10 would explain why everyone loves Captain Hammer in the original movie despite his obvious Jerkass qualities and add insult to injury since it means that Horrible's responsible for the rise of his own arch nemesis.
  • Fun with Acronyms: Patient Mother of Serenity, Verona High School
  • Gone Horribly Right: Love Potion 10. Given it was misused and Billy seems to know what will happen if it is misused.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: A Crowning Moment of Funny, to be sure.

Katie: What is this? Is it supposed to be you?
Kenny: Ha ha ha! No, it is me! It's my pubes!

  • High School AU: This could be considered a prequel version.
  • Hot Librarian: The librarian is almost a parody of this trope.
  • "I Am" Song: "I Am Perfect." Sung by Hammer, of course.
  • "I Want" Song: "Australia" and "Silver Lining"
  • Invisible to Gaydar: Johnny Snow.
  • The Jimmy Hart Version: The movie's theme is one of these for the original's Horrible Theme.
    • There's also a Jimmy Hart version of Eye of the Tiger used for the 'setting up for the Mathtapalon' montage.
  • Jossed: Literally. Word of God says that Wade was originally going to be Moist, but then the official comics came out and showed that Moist and Billy didn't meet until after high school. Lampshaded in the musical when Hammer asks Wade, "Do I know you?"
  • Kick the Dog: "Horribleturn" is basically a montage of Billy kicking the dog in rather comical, Card-Carrying Villain ways. He snips the thread of a kid's balloon and vandalises some random flowers, jarringly set to the most legitimately dark and depressing song in the musical.
  • Leitmotif: Kenny has a very noticeable and fitting one.
  • Land Down Under
  • Love Is in the Air: This was Billy's plan...
  • Large Ham: Kenny by nature of the character, but Wade also seems to be engaging in quite a bit of scenery-chewing in some scenes.
  • Metaphorgotten
    • "We can throw shrimp on the barbie, I can be Ken, she can be Barbie."
    • "Up over, like Australia is down under and you are up over here in the States and here in the library talking to me..."
  • Mrs. Robinson: The librarian seems to be interested in Billy.
  • Musicalis Interruptus: Given that "She Talked To Me" is sung in a library, this was a given.
  • No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Billy's research on plant pheromone is entirely lost when his dad clears out the garage lab to park his Miata.
  • The Nineties: AND HOW!!!
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: A minor and forgivable case, but Katie's otherwise well done accent completely disappears when she sings.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness:

Johnny Snow: "So you're saying you invented an angiospermically derived chemical solution that acts as a quasi-socioamorous activator?"
Hammer: "...Yes..."

  • Shout-Out: Love Potion #10, Patient Mother of Serenity, Dahlhaus Trash Removal, the Buffy poster, Prodigy, the list goes on...
    • PMS may also reference a first season episode of The Big Bang Theory.
    • News co-anchors named Veronica and Ron.
    • One of the competition's mathletes is named Felicia Night. Kind of like Felicia Day but they changed the day...huh...get it? Anyway, I suspect there's some sort of significance in the other names too but I didn't pick up on it.
    • Star Wars in the form of the police commissioners address in the beginning. It's Han Solo's infamous line in the prison break out scene.
    • A truck in front of Billy's house after the Mathletics competition says Dahlhaus.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Hammerstein, just so much until he drinks Love Potion 10.
  • Start of Darkness: Goes further back than Dr. Horrible itself.
  • Stealth Pun: "I can be Ken, she can be Barbie. Who gets the girl? Kennard Hammerstein! Doubles as foreshadowing.
  • Stephen Ulysses Perhero: Gives Captain Hammer the name "Kenny Hammerstein", Billy the surname "Buddy", and Moist the name Wade, maybe.
  • The Stinger: You have to see it to believe it.
  • Sugar Bowl: Billy seems to think Australia is this, with him imagining a brightly-lit Arcadia in the first song.
  • Teen Genius: Billy
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