I'm not entirely sure how Whedon spent over $100,000 making this, but I suppose that's a testament to the inflating costs of doing anything involving unions and movie studios. Anyway, enjoyable enough, though I'm still not crazy about Whedon's songwriting (even with help). Most of the songs sound like what I've heard from Rent (with the exception of the very Sondheim-sounding Dr. Horrible song halfway through the third act), though I will happily admit that the issues I have with musical theatre post-1970 are entirely my own, so not really fair to gripe about that. It's nice to see Fillion play more of a jerk than he usually gets to, but I think he has some trouble with the level of jerkiness (self absorbed in the first act, petty and offensive in the second, childish in the third), given the short running time of the series. The second act in general felt a little weak, actually. I don't really recall much there (there must have been a musical number, but I have no memory of it at all). I guess he befriends Penny, waffles on having to kill someone, then gets pushed into becoming a murderer once Hammer taunts him? I know it's all critical stuff to set up the ending, but felt a little thin.

The third act ends up being much more effective than a goofy, low budget musical has any right to be. I feel like the songwriting picks up significantly by that point (not only the faux-Sondheim number, but the act opener is a nice, lively number - though that might just be because of the Stacy Shirk-played groupie, who is possibly the best part of the whole series), and the tragic ending is nicely executed.

Overall, I'd certainly recommend for free, though I could have lived without the Bad Horse singing bits, however. Not as amusing as Whedon seemed to think.