Now it’s time to take a look at one of my favourite independent filmmakers / content creators from the web. He’s been dabbling in video production for his entire life, he has a large fan-base in the video game community (particularly the retro side of things), and he’s always cranking out video reviews with his friends. Tonight, I’m talking about James Rolfe!

He’s best known as the Angry Video Game Nerd (or AVGN for short), a widely popular character/video game reviewer who breaks games and swears like a sailor. His website Cinemassacre has many other entertaining videos as well. He’s produced various little shows, movie reviews, interviews with people in the horror & sci-fi community, top 10 lists, and has even done a podcast with his wife where they talk about music. Nostalgia is behind much of his content, but he also sometimes shares thoughts on recently-released movies.

On top of all that, he’s been making movies ever since he was a little kid. This video is a great personal documentary about how he did it and why. I highly recommend checking it out. It’s the kind of childhood I always wanted to have.

NOTE: A little heads up, some of the videos in this post may have swearing.

Like other filmmakers who grew up in the 80’s, he started making videos with a VHS camcorder. I always wanted one of those as a kid, so it’s fun being able to see footage from his movies. He’s been keeping track of his creative output since day one, and every time I watch this video, it never fails to motivate me.

Much of his films are in the horror genre, and it’s fun seeing how he brought monsters and locations to life with do-it-yourself props, Halloween supplies, and an insane amount of fake blood. I’d say it’s not quite for the faint of heart, but because you can tell it’s fake, it doesn’t feel gruesome. It’s fun seeing how fake something is, and he relishes that since he feels that it invites someone into the creative process. If you get a kick out of seeing strings on funny effects, you’ll love his movies.

The amount of work he puts into his videos is incredible, but the thing that stands out the most is what’s behind it. His passion for the craft and creativity as a whole is very inspiring. He loves working with others, he loves developing the ideas, filming them, editing, and seeing everything take shape.

Video production, of course, can be intense and unpredictable; but it’s great seeing him share a lot of behind-the-scenes footage. He even supplements this by providing audio commentary on some of his videos. It’s fun learning about what goes into his work, and he’s always happy to discuss how he and his friends produce everything.

In addition to his own original films, his love for classic horror films is another thing I admire. He has released many video reviews of nostalgic horror movies in a yearly series he calls Monster Madness. You can find previous entries here. It’s always fun learning about movies I haven’t seen, and it’s especially fun watching him give his thoughts on many of my favourite horror films.

Although I’d been watching horror for a while before I found his Monster Madness reviews, his videos definitely made me want to dive further into the genre. I’ve always loved TV specials where filmmakers talk about the genre and go into their favourite scenes, so seeing someone do this with online videos blew my mind the first time I started watching. He started out with releasing a video for everyday of October, but because of the amount of time that took, plus other projects he does, and his own personal life, he’s cutting down a little bit to release stuff that’s easier to produce.

And speaking of those other projects, there is, of course, the Angry Video Game Nerd series. That’s easily his most popular creation, and its how I first found his videos in 2006. Not long after that, I started checking out his other stuff and here I am now, still a fan and always happy to see what he’s working on. James is still doing the AVGN series, and has even made a full-length feature film centered around the character. He still puts plenty of time into new episodes, and all the previous installments are always available here on his site.

There’s no other way to say it, James Rolfe is one of my biggest inspirations in online content creation and filmmaking. I tend to wonder what kind of movies I might’ve made if I had one of those VHS cameras as a little kid, so seeing the kind of stuff he made is really fun. His personal documentaries on how and why he makes movies are, in my opinion, required viewing for anyone in any creative field.

This is an entry I’d been wanting to write for a while, and since James Rolfe is the reason I wanted to do my own Halloween-themed stuff during the month of October, it’s only right that I finally write this tribute. He’s the reason I love doing this, he’s the reason I love learning about horror movies and notoriously-bad video games, and he’s also the reason I want to create video content.

That and he’s also one of the reasons I like collecting VHS tapes. I mean just look at that video rental store-inspired room in his From Dusk Till Dawn review. It kind of makes me a little jealous lol.

Anyway, thank you for all the laughs and motivation, James! And to everyone reading this, thank you for being here. Check out his work at Cinemassacre.com. Some of his humor might not be for everyone, but you’re bound to find something you’ll enjoy.

Until next time, always remember to never stop chasing your dreams. See ya around! o/