And Now, In Context
Tuesday January 10, 2006 • Howard Tayler
More than a few of you have emailed me to let me know that Uwe Boll, the executive producer and director of BloodRayne, has produced and/or directed other stinkers. To this I say "I know." My review of BloodRayne was contextless. I attempted to judge the film based on what appeared on the screen, rather than on what I believed was going on behind the scenes. As horrible as the on-screen material was, the behind the scenes story is worse. Begin, if you will, with this Cinema Blend article which explains that Uwe Boll is out to make tax breaks, not movies. You know that hit Broadway show The Producers which is coming back to the big screen? Well, Uwe is doing exactly what the protagonists do in that film -- he's making money through tax laws, while destroying the intellectual property he licenses for production. Yes, I've seen House of the Dead. I can be forgiven for that, right? I mean, I had no idea Uwe Boll was a scam artist back then. I really enjoyed the game (I played all the way through it once, using both players' stations for that "John Woo" two-pistol mayhem). Oh, and I've got a thing for zombie movies. It LOOKED like something I'd enjoy. To say that it was every bit as bad as BloodRayne would be two years later is inaccurate, though. It was bad, sure enough, but Uwe Boll was still working on his "craft." In BloodRayne I believe he has perfected the "art" of taking good actors, beautiful locations, and expensive equipment and churning out worst-case scenarios. What's the answer to all this? If we stay away from his films, he makes a mint. If we go and SEE his films, we're throwing away time better spent buried up to our necks in anthills, and money better spent donated to webcartoonists. Stuart Wood, the Cinema Blend reporter, may have the right idea: boycott Uwe Boll's work "in screening, review, interview, or any other form." To that end, I probably should stop talking about him...
