Reptile (2017) is an American independent drama/comedy film made by Larry Hinson III. It's the first ever feature film released by Lavon Pictures, Lavon Studios, Neutron Films, Mediaworks Productions and Accolade Pictures. It is also the first entry in the NeuTriVon universe. The film was released on February 3, 2017. The Roadshow Cut was released on March 3rd, 2017. The Final Cut was accidentally released on March 22nd, 2017 nearly three weeks after The Roadshow Cut. It was removed the next day but was eventually reinstated.
Background[]
The film was planned since mid-to-late August 2016. Larry then announced the film in early October of the same year. Filming of the movie began on October 30, 2016 and ended on January 23, 2017. In between filming, Larry released five short teasers (which were edited by Lavon Vonla) leading up to the first official trailer which was released on November 19, 2016. In addition to the trailer, Lavon created a 30 second commercial advertising the movie which was released on Larry's YouTube page on December 10, 2016. Then the very next month on the same date, Larry released a short preview of the movie which depicted Reptile calling Larry for help when he discover that the Shiz Oh Network was hacked by a group called The Violent Ducks. Larry would then announce just 13 days later, the filming of the movie has been completed. The director's cut of "Reptile" was originally scheduled to be released on March 3, 2017. However, it ended up being released early due to fast production. Lavon would then later announce on March 3rd that one of the two cuts of the movie will be released titled "Roadshow Cut" & "Final Cut." The Roadshow Cut got released on March 3rd. While The Final Cut was accidentally got released three weeks later and was removed the very next day. It's unknown if someone leaked the final cut to the public eye.
Cast[]
Larry Hinson III as Reptile; Larry/Rickey Kaleb; Larry has stated his own personal thoughts on developing these characters. "Reptile is a very complex character. Reptile shows that he does have a soft side. I thought making him an anti-hero would make more sense because he's a very angry person and it wouldn't make sense for a hero to act like that. My personal favorite performance in the movie is probably Rickey Kaleb. I felt like playing a villain unleashed some of my amateur acting skills and made it somewhat intermediate. I have a lot of improving to do, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm really glad I got to utilize some of my acting with the addition of my real life short temper. Let's just say, my real life anger helped me with my acting. I'm really thankful for that on top of playing these characters. And that plot twist at the end was gold. I felt like the movie probably would've failed if I never included it." - Larry Hinson III, 2017
Larry also played Crodra who appeared in the post-credit scene of the director's cut in the form of a cameo.
Plot[]
Reptile and Larry talking to one another
It takes place three years after the events of episode five on "That's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Reptile!" Reptile returns to review bad games. Those games would include Perfect Weapon (PS1), & Bubsy 3D. After reviewing Perfect Weapon, he gets hacked by a vicious hacker named Rickey Kaleb who is the leader of a famous hacking group named the Violent Ducks. This leads to him calling Larry asking for help. Larry comes up with a way to find out information about Rickey by doing hours of research on him only to find out that he’s been leader for five years and that the hacking group has been around for 20 years. After the hacking incident, Larry decides to put Shiz Oh Network on hiatus until further notice. Reptile then convinces Larry to continue uploading videos as it only happened one time. This leads to Reptile reviewing Bubsy 3D explaining how bad the game is and calls it the worst PS1 game he’s ever played. Reptile discovers that the channel seems to be in good shape however, the hackers struck again with the text reading “!*&* YOU REPTILE! WE HACKED AGAIN!” Reptile desperately tries to find a way to keep Larry from finding out but then Rickey video calls Reptile via TV. At first, Reptile didn't know who he was until Rickey revealed that it was him hacking Shiz Oh Network and that he’s the leader of the Violent Ducks. Rickey demands Reptile to give him Shiz Oh Network and he promises not the leak Reptile’s family/personal history. If Reptile doesn't hand SON over, Rickey would expose Reptile to the best of his ability. Eventually, Larry finds out what happened and tells Reptile to back up his videos and that he’s shutting the channel down. Reptile refused. “Well, I DON’T NEED YOU TO LOOK AFTER ME!!” says Reptile very angrily. Larry then feels betrayed and walks out on Reptile. Few hours later after the
Larry as he appears in the film
argument, Reptile apologizes for his behavior. Larry then forgives him but doesn't know what to do next. Reptile comes up with an idea where he will track Rickey’s database down to find out where he lives. Reptile discovers he’s in New Castle, DE and finds his home. Rickey shows up right behind Reptile and they confront each other. After Rickey talks about how his identity has been a mystery for so long, Rickey informs Reptile that he could be someone close. At first, Reptile was confused until, Rickey revealed himself! It was discovered that it was Larry the whole time! Reptile, who is understandably shocked, feels so betrayed by Larry and convinces him NOT to do anything he will regret. Larry took
Reptile as he appears in the film
it to the extreme and shot Reptile in the shoulder. Larry goes on by stating that the purpose of Shiz Oh Network was to help him get over with the YouTube audience. However, when Reptile films his show on the channel, it gets more views and overall popularity than Larry. This makes Larry feel vengeful and jealous that the only way he can get revenge on Reptile for stealing his fans is to kill him. However, Reptile pulls out his gun out of nowhere and shoots Larry in the neck which instantly kills him. In the final scene, Reptile can be seen walking into to his home the very next day after he killed Larry. He narrates by saying that they he’s called a mad reptile for a reason and that reviewing games is a passion he has. “You don't ever, and I mean ever, Fuck. With. Me!” says Reptile as he gives the middle finger to the camera which leads to the ending credits.
Original Plans[]
- Larry actually confirmed in Lavon's livestreams that the twist where Larry revealed himself as Rickey Kaleb was NOT supposed to be in the movie. Instead, they were all gonna be separate characters played by him. However, he added the twist to the plot very late in development so the movie would be more surprising.
- Larry confirmed that he was originally going to delete the scene where Reptile reviewed Perfect Weapon because at first he thought it was too lazy. Though, he kept the scene in the movie because he thought it was funny enough to be in the movie.
- The ending to Reptile was originally going to take place in the basement of Larry's home as Rickey's house. He instead decided to shoot the scene outside in his backyard for a more sophisticated setting.
- On the poster of Reptile, you can see on the top that (with the exception of Perfect Weapon & Bubsy 3D) there are more bad games including Batman Forever on SNES, Superman on N64, and Independence Day for PlayStation. They were originally going to appear in the movie but Larry decided to cut them from the movie because it would make the movie much longer than he intended. He also stated that the movie would have so much filler and people would complain about the movie not focusing on the actual story. Later on, Larry confirmed that these games will appear in Reptile's TV return after his Sega Saturn episode he recently filmed which is set to be released sometime in 2017.
- During the trailers for Reptile, a character from Friends with Benefits, Robbie Thomas was often marketed to appear in the movie. Larry confirmed that he was originally going to be Rickey Kaleb's conscience. However, he was scrapped from the movie because of editing errors and issues.
- Larry also originally planned to have more than 10 songs to be on the movie's soundtrack. He had to cut most of them out as they wouldn't fit the movie's duration or setting.
Soundtrack[]
- Flavor Radio Show International - Battle Me (intro)
- Motorhead - Ace of Spades
- Killswitch Engage - Always
- Clint Mansell - Requiem for a Dream (director's cut)
- Hollywood Undead - Undead
- Lavon Vonla - Master Reptile (roadshow/final cut)
- Kaiser Chiefs - Oh My God (director's cut)
- Disturbed - Down with the Sickness (roadshow/final cut)
Reception[]
The film has received positive reviews. The film has an average of 4 stars out of 5.
Loyal fans of Shiz Oh Network like MrDIRECTOREIGHT loved this movie by stating: "You and Lavon did a great job on this movie. There are few flaws in editing here and there, but other than that I loved it. Great job!"
Max Andrew (the creator of Logo Intro Bloopers) enjoyed the movie as well but stated that he never understood the movie at first. He said: "The first time I watched the film, I just didn't get it and I thought the film was going to be boring. But as it turns out, I actually got the story and it was starting to get interesting. And I was surprised on one of the plot twists in the film. All and all, it's a good film and I enjoy watching it."