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First of all, I try to learn from criticism on the Internet
and I try to learn from criticism in general.
Secondly, there is criticism that assaults me personally.
Of course, I have to do damage control,
because my investors and other people read that too.
I am in a situation in which I have to
account for what's published about me on the Internet.
They tell me
"Look at these terrible reviews your movies got!"
"It looks like your movies are indeed terrible."
"No wonder they fail miserably at the box office."
Once this image is set in,
it is a lot of work to do away with it
or at least to alleviate its consequences.
I think I tried everything I could,
from completely ignoring it
to beating up my critics in public boxing matches.
I personally and publicly addressed reviews
and replied to emails people sent me.
Granted, I never posted on messageboards.
But I gave interviews on websites and released video messages.
I was actively involved in all that.
But at some point I realized, it is a lot of work to do all that.
I started asking myself, what's the use of it?
I gave a two-hour long interview for a small website.
Later I realized those guys get about 400 visits a month.
So, I concluded when dealing with the public,
I need to try to make the best use of my time.
To tell you the truth,
I didn't get many positive reviews for the films I did in Germany.
German Fried Movie, Barschel or The First Semester.
But criticism during my time in Germany wasn't as aggressive.
It also was limited to a few publications.
With Sanctimony, Blackwoods and Heart of America
came some kind of lowthrough.
It seemed to me no reviewer said what he really thought.
Blackwoods and Heart of America even got mildly positive reviews.
But then House of the Dead triggered an avalanche of hate.
With Alone in the Dark and BloodRayne,
the badmouthing had reached its peak.
After that, it went down to more normal levels.
I believed I have slogged through the worst of the bashing.
Originally, the films were bashed. I was viewed as responsible.
They said I was an idiot who only produces bad movies.
The situation turned even worse when I openly addressed this.
They had expected me to crawl back into my corner and shut up.
But instead I started openly arguing with the fans.
This was seen as yet another provocation.
It again increased the amount of vitriol directed towards me.
I think it's both.
Noone in their right mind posts 40 times a day about Uwe Boll.
It's people who have too much time on their hands.
It's people who are faced with the though decision:
Should I play more videogames or post on messageboards?
I think that much is clear.
But then there are people who are creatures of habit.
First, they register an account on a messageboard on Uwe Boll.
Then they start posting and posting the same things about me.
There a recurring topics on the IMDb messageboards.
Threads on certain topics appear over and over again.
Repeated like a mantra 20 times over.
And most of the time it's the same people repeating them.
I have to ask: What do these people want?
Why don't they for a change visit the messageboard of Wanted
and write about that movie?
This is a strange phenomenon:
Some people behave like fanatics.
They repeat the same discussion every two weeks.
Sure.
There are people who send me emails like
"Boll, you are the antichrist. If I ever meet you, I'll kill you."
I reply "Well thank you, idiot", and they sent another email:
"Is this really Uwe Boll? I am a big fan!"
They seamlessly switch from death threats
to asking for an autograph.
So what inspired this guy to threaten me in the first place?
This is the absurdity of these death threats
and of the discussions on the Internet as well.
I mean, I make movies.
I'm not Mugabe of Simbabwe,
who orders hacking off people's limbs on a daily basis.
You'd think there is a difference
between real events and a guy making movies.
I think it did both.
I believe the path I've traveled is atypical for a director.
Especially for a German director.
I also believe there was no other way for me.
From the beginning on, I didn't fit in a system composed of
German filmsubsidy fund, TV stations and Bavarian Film Award.
There were only two options for me,
not doing films at all or the path I travelled:
doing genre films in English, private funding and so on.
Considering my competition in the market,
big studios with wide distribution and huge advertising budgets,
I think Internet Bashing helped putting my name on the map.
Many people rent my DVDs, because they think
"I have heard about this movie."
"Didn't that crazy Boll direct it?"
And because of this, they rent my movie.
I believe in this sense,
Internet Bashing might have a positive effect on sales.