James D. Rolfe (born July 10, 1980) is an American
YouTuber
A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006.
Influence
Influent ...
, online personality, filmmaker, and actor. He is best known for creating and starring in the comedic
retrogaming
Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming and old school gaming, is the current playing and collection of obsolete personal computers, consoles, and video games. Usually, retrogaming is based upon systems that are outmoded or discontinued, alt ...
web series ''
The Angry Video Game Nerd
''The Angry Video Game Nerd'' (abbreviated as ''AVGN'') is an American retrogaming review comedy web series created by and starring James Rolfe. The series centers on Rolfe's titular skit character, often simply shortened to "the Nerd" (sometime ...
'' (2004–present). His spin-off projects include reviews of other retro films, television series, and board games. He is considered a pioneer of internet gaming videos, and is noted for widespread influence on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
content after his series premiered on the site in 2006.
Rolfe began creating homemade video productions in the late 1980s, and has created more than 270 videos throughout his career. His career as an online celebrity took off in 2004 with the beginning of ''Angry Video Game Nerd''.
Two years later, Rolfe gained mainstream attention after one of his videos went viral upon being published on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
.
In the interim, he filmed videos he created on his own and most of them have been released on his website, Cinemassacre.
Early life
Rolfe was born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
on July 10, 1980, and raised in suburban
Haddonfield, New Jersey
:''Not the fictional Illinois town from the Halloween film series.''
Haddonfield is a borough located in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a total population of 11,593, .
His parents bought him an audio recorder as a Christmas present sometime in the early to mid-1980s. Later, he got a camera and took photographs of him and his friends play fighting. He was inspired by ''
The Legend of Zelda
''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...
'' and ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...
'' to create adventure stories. Rolfe also illustrated comic books, which he updated monthly. One such comic he created had a plot inspired by the video game ''
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past''.
Rolfe started filming shorts in 1989 continuing this hobby into the mid 1990s.
He used ''
Mario Paint
is a video game developed by Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsm ...
'' for a few of his early films. He eventually took classes for hand-drawn
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
at a university. His early films did not have scripts or rehearsal. However, once he started writing scripts, his friends gradually lost interest because of the pressure of trying to remember their lines,
which left many of Rolfe's films unfinished. He then tried his hand at action figures and puppets. The plot of ''The Giant Movie Director'' (1994) involved toys coming to life. Rolfe attended a
special education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
school for seven-and-a-half years during his childhood. He reflected on his past, "In school, I had a rough time communicating. I went to special ed for seven-and-a-half years. I liked it, I had a good time. But socializing in general... I was a little awkward. Art always made me feel comfortable."
Rolfe attended the
University of the Arts and has a
bachelor's degree in fine arts.
Since his early teen years, Rolfe operated and ran an annual "haunted house"
Halloween
Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...
attraction out of his parents' garage (the same garage was later used in building a graveyard for his horror comedy film ''The Deader, the Better'' and again used in his film/series pilot ''Jersey Odysseys: Legend of the Blue Hole''), using a collection of several props and antiques that he later reused multiple times in his other films.
Career
Early films
In May 1996, he filmed ''A Night of Total Terror'' in his backyard, a horror film that he has called "the turning point of
islife".
In the late 1990s, Rolfe created several films such as the B-horror movie ''The Head Incident'' that he finished in 1999 but did not release until its tenth anniversary in 2009. He also made ''Cinemaphobia'' in 2001, which follows an actor who suffers from an overload of work and sees hallucinations of cameras following him. Two versions of the film were made, a ten-minute version and an extended, fifteen-minute version. Rolfe has stated his preference for the shorter ten-minute version.
The same year, he created ''Kung Fu Werewolf from Outer Space'' which is a mainly silent movie except for narration. He also created an hour-long comedy film entitled ''Stoney'', which is a spoof of the 1976 film ''
Rocky
''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...
''. His eighth film of 2001 was ''It Came from the Toilet!''.
In 2003, he created another film, ''Curse of the Cat Lover's Grave'', which was split into three parts to define three different horror genres.
Rolfe made a pilot of a planned web series entitled ''Jersey Odysseys: Legend of the Blue Hole'', which is based on the urban legends of the state of New Jersey. The pilot centers around on the legend of the
Jersey Devil
In South Jersey and Philadelphia folklore in the United States, the Jersey Devil (also known as the Leeds Devil) is a legendary creature said to inhabit the forest of Pine Barrens in South Jersey. The creature is often described as a flying bipe ...
.
Later, in 2004, he got a job editing industrial training videos, which he quit in early 2007.
In May 2007, he began a new web series called ''You Know What's Bullshit?'', in which he rants about everyday pet peeves; such as pennies, shoelaces,
pay toilets
A pay toilet is a public toilet that requires the user to pay. It may be street furniture or be inside a building, e.g. a shopping mall, department store, or railway station. The reason for charging money is usually for the maintenance of the equ ...
, and printers. Originally just being rants by Rolfe, he instead decided to create a new character to host the series named "The Bullshit Man" (which is just Rolfe wearing a mask resembling
cow dung
Cow dung, also known as cow pats, cow pies or cow manure, is the waste product (faeces) of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle ("cows"), bison ("buffalo"), yak, and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue ...
). The Bullshit Man made several cameo appearances in AVGN content, including select videos and the video game ''AVGN Adventures'' as a secret character. In 2020, the show's name was abbreviated to ''You Know What's BS?'' due to YouTube's advertising policies.
In 2007, Rolfe began filming ''The Deader, the Better'', a classic-style B-movie horror film that pays homage to the 1968 horror film ''
Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven peop ...
''. The film was shown at the Atlanta Horror Fest in October 2007. On May 5, 2006, Rolfe released a music video that included stock footage from a trip he had made to England and Scotland. The music used in his work was from the
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
single "
Heaven and Hell".
Rolfe also participated in the
48 Hour Film Project
The 48 Hour Film Project is an annual film competition in which teams of filmmakers are assigned a genre, a character, a prop, and a line of dialogue, and have 48 hours to create a short film containing those elements. The competition has been ac ...
between 2004 and 2007. In the 2007 event, he was the Audience Award Winner for his film ''Spaghetti Western''. His other entries were a trilogy of films called ''Death Suit'' (2004), ''Death Seen'' (2005) and ''Death Secret'' (2006).
''Angry Video Game Nerd''
![James D](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/James_D._Rolfe.jpg)
Rolfe's career did not gain much momentum until May 2004, when he filmed a 5-minute short review of the
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
(NES) game ''
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest'' under the name "Bad NES Games".
His character was originally named "The Angry Nintendo Nerd" but was changed to "The Angry Video Game Nerd" (sometimes shortened to "The Nerd") to avoid
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
issues and because he started reviewing games on other consoles (e.g.
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
,
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...
).
Rolfe conceived of the character while studying at the
University of the Arts of Philadelphia when he attended from 1999 to 2004.
Rolfe then made another video, a review of the 1988 game ''
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Doctor is an academic title that originates from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning. The word is originally an agentive noun of the Latin verb 'to teach'. It has been used as an academic title in Europe since the 13th century, w ...
'', originally intended as the last of the series due to it being the game Rolfe hated most. The video introduced the running joke of The Nerd drinking
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
due to the badness of a game;
[James Rolfe (2007). What Was I Thinking?: The Making of the Angry Video Game Nerd (DVD). ScrewAttack.] Rolfe initially used
Rolling Rock
Rolling Rock is a 4.4% abv American lager launched in 1939 by the Latrobe Brewing Company. Although founded as a local beer in Western Pennsylvania, it was marketed aggressively and eventually became a national product. The brand was sold to Anheu ...
for the gag as it was the only beer in his refrigerator at the time, but would later perform the joke with
Yuengling
D. G. Yuengling & Son, established in 1829, is the oldest operating brewery, brewing company in the United States. In 2018, by volume of sales, it was the largest Craft brewery and microbrewery, craft brewery, sixth largest overall brewery and l ...
beer,
hard-liquor, or non-alcoholic
hot sauce
Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist.
History
Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...
.
Rolfe originally intended to keep his videos private, but his friend and collaborator, Mike Matei, convinced him to post the videos to a
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel called "JamesNintendoNerd" (now called ''Cinemassacre'') on April 6, 2006, which Matei created and managed for him.
On September 12, 2006, Rolfe's character first gained mainstream attention when his review of ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...
'' became popular on YouTube.
His videos were also posted on
GameTrailers
''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
and
ScrewAttack
Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warner ...
and had gained 30 million views monthly. He has over 3 million subscribers, as of September 2019.
At the end of 2007, Rolfe halted the production of the series and cancelled an appearance at
MAGFest
MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival, originally the Mid-Atlantic Gaming Festival) is an annual festival held in the Washington metropolitan area that celebrates video games and video game music, as well as their surrounding culture. MAGFest's pri ...
after suffering from a break in his voice. On March 17, 2010, he made the announcement that he was suffering from
burnout as a result of consistently writing, directing and starring in the videos, and that the show would be entering a brief hiatus. It was scheduled to return in May 2010; however, an episode was released on April 30. Episodes are released on either the first or second Wednesday of each month, as opposed to two episodes per month due to Rolfe's other projects.
Episodes were at one point posted on YouTube over a year after their original release on
GameTrailers
''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
. Rolfe formerly had affiliations with
ScrewAttack
Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warner ...
before leaving in 2013.
![The Nerd and the Nostalgia Critic Face to Face](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/The_Nerd_and_the_Nostalgia_Critic_Face_to_Face.jpg)
Rolfe's Nerd character gained further fame through a fictional feud with fellow YouTuber
Doug Walker's
Nostalgia Critic
''Nostalgia Critic'' is an American review comedy web series created, directed by and starring web comedian Douglas "Doug" Walker. The series initially launched on YouTube on July 3, 2007, before moving to Walker's own site, That Guy with the G ...
character. This began with the Critic launching a satirical attack in an early video, prompting a response from the Nerd. The feud took place over several videos between 2008 and 2009, culminating in a crossover video entitled "
TGWTG Team Brawl" wherein the characters fight and ultimately reconcile. Out of character, Rolfe and Walker clarified that the feud was entirely fictional and that they were in fact good friends; both have since collaborated on a number of videos and other projects.
[
]
''Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie''
For a period, Rolfe focused his efforts on producing '' Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie'', which revolves around ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'', the video game for the Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...
. The film was a collaboration between Rolfe and Kevin Finn and was entirely funded by fan donations. The release of the film in 2014 coincided with the 31st anniversary of the 1983 video game crash
The video game crash of 1983 (known as the Atari shock in Japan) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including ma ...
. The final sequence of the movie, in which The Nerd reviews ''E.T.'', was later released as a standard AVGN episode.
Other films
upRolfe (left) at the Chiller Theatre Expo 2014
Rolfe had a cameo in a Doritos
Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The original Doritos were not flavored. The first flavor was Toasted Corn, released in 1966, followed by Taco in ...
and Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi was ...
commercial published online in November 2010. The ad was part of a voting contest of which the winning clip was to be shown during Super Bowl XLV
Super Bowl XLV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champi ...
. However, the ad was eventually withdrawn due to public backlash, because it parodied the Catholic practice of Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
. In 2007, Rolfe had a cameo in the fan film
A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more ...
''Return of the Ghostbusters''. He was featured in the 2009 documentary ''His Name Was Jason'', in which he talks about the ''Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year. ...
'' movie series and its antagonist Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees () is a character (arts), character from the Friday the 13th (franchise), ''Friday the 13th'' series. He first appeared in ''Friday the 13th (1980 film), Friday the 13th'' (1980) as the young son of camp-cook-turned-killer Pamel ...
. Similarly, Rolfe appeared in a bonus feature to the 2010 documentary '' Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy'', in which he discusses the ''Nightmare on Elm Street'' NES game, a title he had previously covered as the Nerd in the 13th AVGN episode. The bonus feature can be found on the second disc of the ''Never Sleep Again'' DVD set.
In 2010, it was announced that Rolfe was set to feature in a low-budget remake of ''Plan 9 from Outer Space
''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a theatrical preview screening on March 15 ...
'' entitled '' Plan 9'', which was released through Video on Demand beginning February 16, 2016, and then released on physical media in stores on January 5, 2017. Around early to mid January 2013, Rolfe played a brief role as a news reporter in an independent short film about Sonic the Hedgehog
is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
. He was offered a role in ''V/H/S/2
''V/H/S/2'' (originally titled ''S-VHS'') is a 2013 found footage horror anthology film produced by Bloody Disgusting and Roxanne BenjaminThe second installment in the ''V/H/S'' franchise, it comprises four found footage segments linked to ...
'' by Adam Wingard
Adam Wingard ( ; born December 3, 1982) is an American filmmaker. He has served as a director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous projects.
Following an early career as a member of the mumblecore ...
, but had to decline due to working on ''Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie''. He was later offered a potential cameo in '' Godzilla vs. Kong'' by Wingard, but the demands of production, alongside the timing of the birth of Rolfe's second daughter, made the arrangement unfeasible. Rolfe also appeared in the crowdfunded 1980's horror documentary ''In Search of Darkness
''In Search of Darkness'' is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by David A. Weiner and executive produced by Robin Block of CreatorVC Studios. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, the film explores ...
''.
Commitment to the YouTube videos has slowed Rolfe's progress in making new features, but he did make a trilogy of new shorts after ''Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie'', including ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Movie'' (2015), based on the video game, ''Flying Fuckernauts vs. The Astro-Bastards'' (2016), a tribute to B-movie sci-fi, and ''Mimal the Elf'' (2017), a mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...
. On May 25, 2017, in a general update video about the future of the YouTube channel, Rolfe announced he was in very early development on what he termed an "atmospheric horror movie... he film would
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
take place in one room... very minimal". On December 29, Rolfe announced that 2018 would lean more toward his own original projects, and that he had begun writing the untitled horror film. It would be in the vein of past projects, such as ''Legend of the Blue Hole'' and ''Cinemaphobia''. On August 8, 2018, Rolfe said he was 50-75% done with the script, and that it would contain some type of 'nostalgia theming', but it would likely undergo further rewrites and had no plans to film it in the near future. On June 19, 2019, Rolfe said the script was completed, but commitment to video production would delay the project for the foreseeable future.
On October 18, 2020, Rolfe announced the horror film was postponed indefinitely due to time constraints. Instead, he directed a sequel to his 1999 horror short, ''The Head Incident'', reuniting several members of the original cast/crew. On June 10, 2021, Rolfe released a video, explaining the premise of the shelved 'nostalgic' horror film: It would be about a man revisiting a childhood amusement park, only to become trapped there. Rolfe stated that the project could be revived in another medium, and that he was working on another small-scale screenplay.
Other video series
Cinemassacre has published a number of other reviews featuring Rolfe and associates as themselves. The topics include video games (under the ''James & Mike Mondays'' series), video game peripherals such as the VictorMaxx Stuntmaster headset, and films. One of Rolfe's other series is ''Board James'', where he, Brendan "Bootsy" Castner and Mike Matei review old board games in a humorous way, often with recurring characters. This show eventually developed into a psychological horror series, while still containing board game reviews in each episode. The show ran for 3 seasons and 27 episodes before ending in 2015.
Rolfe was involved in a fifteen-part series titled ''OverAnalyzers'', where he played the part of the manager of a fictional company that over analyzed various pop culture references. The series was edited and produced by another website called Cinevore. He also worked as a film reviewer on Spike.com.
Rolfe has run ''Monster Madness'', in which he reviews one horror movie for each day in October, since 2007. Each year, he has adopted a different theme for ''Monster Madness''. 2007 was the history of horror. 2008 was ''Godzillathon'', in which he reviewed all of the Godzilla films chronologically. 2009 was ''Monster Madness Three'', which dealt with a variety of popular and little known films of horror. 2010 was ''Camp Cult'', which dealt with both campy horror films as well as cult classic films, such as ''Troll 2''. 2011 was ''Sequel-A-Thon'', which dealt with horror sequels. And 2012 was ''80's-a-Thon'', which included only movies made in the 1980s. While the first five years of ''Monster Madness'' have been one film review per day for the entirety of the month of October 2012's ''80's-a-Thon'' series of ''Monster Madness'' was reduced to every other day of October due to the production of ''The Angry Video Game Nerd Movie''. Despite the decreased number of film reviews, the film reviews in ''80's-a-Thon'' were longer than previous reviews on ''Monster Madness''. With October 2013's ''Sequel-A-Thon 2'', ''Monster Madness'' has returned to one review per day. 2013 was ''Sequel-A-Thon 2'', which dealt with more horror sequels. The previous 31 marathon ''Monster Madness'' series ran during October 2016. Rolfe expressed his desire to move onto other Halloween-themed projects and reviews in the future, but said that ''Monster Madness'' will always live on in some way.
In 2017, ''Son of Monster Madness'' debuted, which consisted simply of five new reviews, with the rest of October bulked by reuploads of older reviews previously not available on YouTube. ''Monster Madness'', under the original branding despite not having videos posted everyday, returned in October 2019, now having Rolfe with a guest talk about the films. Rolfe brought back ''Monster Madness'' in 2021 with the aid of Screenwave Media. However, Rolfe redacted the first two published videos of the 2021 series after realizing that his writer had plagiarized contents of the episodes' scripts.
In 2012, Rolfe and Mike Matei created a Let's Play
A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strateg ...
series called ''James and Mike Mondays'', formerly called ''James and Mike Plays'', for Cinemassacre's YouTube channel. The series featured guests such as Kyle Justin, who composed the ''Angry Video Game Nerd'' theme song, Brandon Castner, better known as Bad Luck Bootsy from ''Board James'', JonTron
Jonathan Aryan Jafari ( /ˈɛəriən/) (born March 24, 1990), better known by his Internet pseudonym JonTron, is an American YouTuber, comedian, reviewer, and Internet personality. He is best known for his eponymous YouTube web series ''JonTr ...
and Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...
. Rolfe and Matei produced episodes for eight consecutive years until they announced the series would be on hiatus until February 2021. However, Matei left Cinemassacre in December 2020 to become a full-time streamer on Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...
.
On May 16, 2016, Rolfe uploaded a video to Cinemassacre's YouTube channel in which he expressed unhappiness with the 2016 ''Ghostbusters'' reboot film and how he planned on not seeing it or releasing a review. Rolfe criticized the film's lack of originality but had no problem with the female cast. This stance was criticized by some in the entertainment industry, with many theorizing that a significant portion of fan backlash against the movie was being grounded in sexism. Actor Patton Oswalt
Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...
, who criticized Rolfe, pulled back his accusation later, claiming to have "picked the wrong target". Rolfe had no ill feelings towards Oswalt and admitted in an interview with ''Double Toasted
Double Toasted is an entertainment website based in Austin, Texas. The site hosts weekly podcasts covering current events, pop culture, movie reviews and video games.
History
After the closure of Spill.com in 2013, Korey Coleman was encoura ...
'' in 2021 that he did not even think what he said was intended to be bad.
Personal life
Rolfe attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
from 1999 to 2004 and continued living there after graduation. He briefly relocated to Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
while filming '' Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie'' (2014) but returned to Philadelphia upon completion of the movie.
In 2004, Rolfe was involved in a car crash when a utility trailer came loose from its truck, flung out to the other part of the highway, and hit him head-on. Rolfe sustained no physical injuries from the crash, while his Saturn Ion
The Saturn Ion is a compact car sold by Saturn between the 2003 and 2007 model years. It used the GM Delta platform. The Ion replaced the Saturn S-Series in 2002,
and was replaced by the new Saturn Astra in 2008. Production of the Ion ended on Ma ...
, which he had bought just nine days prior, was wrecked. Later that year, Rolfe discussed his experience in a short movie, ''Mechanical Losses''.
Rolfe met April Chmura in July 2004; she was a cinematographer on the early ''Nerd'' episodes. They began dating shortly after and got married in November 2007. He announced at the premiere trailer for ''Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie'' in November 2012, that they were expecting their first child. In April 2013, she gave birth to a baby girl. Rolfe has not divulged details about his daughter except for a few photos and expressing thanks that his wife got past complications resulting during childbirth.
In November 2013, April posted an update on Rolfe's Cinemassacre website that their daughter is continually seeking medical treatment due to unspecified complications. On April 13, 2016, Rolfe revealed what happened while announcing an auction of various Cinemassacre memorabilia to benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Children's is a network of non-profit medical facilities across North America. Children with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-center ...
. During birth, his daughter suffered nerve damage
Nerve injury is an injury to nervous tissue. There is no single classification system that can describe all the many variations of nerve injuries. In 1941, Seddon introduced a classification of nerve injuries based on three main types of nerve f ...
in one of her arms, and required many months of physical therapy
Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...
to gain full use of it. Rolfe expressed gratitude to Shriners for all they did for his family during that time.
Rolfe's second daughter was born on September 1, 2017.
He is of Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
ancestry.
Rolfe had a pet cat
The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
named Boo who occasionally appeared on the ''Angry Video Game Nerd''. Boo died of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
on April 27, 2020.
Rolfe published his autobiography, ''A Movie Making Nerd'', in 2022.
Filmography
Film
Television / Webshows
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolfe, James
1980 births
American film critics
American autobiographers
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American podcasters
American television directors
American television writers
American humorists
American YouTubers
21st-century American comedians
Cinemassacre
Living people
Male actors from New Jersey
American male television writers
Gaming YouTubers
People from Penns Grove, New Jersey
University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni
Video game critics
American writers of Italian descent
Screenwriters from New Jersey
21st-century American screenwriters
YouTube critics and reviewers
YouTube podcasters
21st-century American male writers
Film directors from New Jersey
People from Philadelphia
Winslow Township High School alumni
Television producers from New Jersey
American film directors of Italian descent
YouTube channels launched in 2006