James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, talks Halloween and horror movies

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By Brian Fontenot

James Rolfe, aka the Angry Video Game Nerd, has come a long way since he first filmed himself reviewing the twenty year old Nintendo game, “Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest.” He’s appeared on the “Opie & Anthony” show. His game reviews and Top 10s have been featured on ScrewAttack.com as part of an exclusive deal with MTV’s GameTrailers.com. And most recently, he has appeared as himself, James Rolfe, to create marathon movie review shorts for SpikeTV.com. 

But with all the new fame comes a lot of new work. 

“It’s crazy. I’ve been doing nothing but working on videos all around the clock,” Rolfe said. 

He said he didn’t even get to do much for Halloween this year, even though he prefers to keep things simple in general when it comes to dressing up. 

“I used to love wearing masks as a kid, but now I prefer simple costumes. Wigs are okay, but I don’t like having to carry around props or cover my face,” he said. “I went to a party as Batman last year, and the sweat filled up inside the rubber mask. It was nasty. I’m thinking to be Rob Zombie for next year.” 

Rolfe’s fans benefitted from his sacrifice, being treated to a review of Frankenstein video games featuring the Nerd wrestling with a Nerd version of the famed green-skinned monster. 

Rolfe is a fan of horror movies, as well as film in general. As a kid, he said the scariest movie he ever saw was Wes Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” 

“It made you afraid of having nightmares, and that wasn’t even fair,” he said. 

Though the name of his Web site, Cinemassacre.com, seems to imply an obsession with the horror genre, it is actually a description of his method for finishing his projects no matter what by “massacring” everything together. 

Rolfe also had some time for a little Q and A with Tiger Weekly. 

TW: If you were trapped on Halloween night in a dark room with a TV, a DVD player, and a horror movie series, which series would you want to have with you? 

JR: The Romero “Dead” series. 

TW: As a fan of “Evil Dead 2” and its sequel, “Army of Darkness,” what body part would you be willing to sacrifice to Sam Raimi to get him to make Evil Dead 4? 

JR: My middle finger. Use it for the Hand flipping off Ash. 

TW: If you were given $100 million to write and direct a horror movie, what would it be like and who would you get to score the movie? 

JR: It would be a spoof of Universal Monsters. There are a lot of funny clichés. There’s no single composer that would be necessary for this particular movie. It would mostly be all recycled music from the 1940’s. 

TW: What’s your favorite horror movie from the last 10 years? 

JR: Probably “Death Proof.”

TW: Is Bela Lugosi the greatest Dracula of all time in your mind or do you have another favorite? 

JR: Christopher Lee is awesome, as well. Lugosi’s still my favorite. 

Q: People always talk about their favorite horror movie monster/bad guy, but what about the protagonists? Who is the most badass horror movie protagonist of all time? 

JR: I guess it has to be Ash. I think most people would agree.

Originally Published: Issue 712 - November 12, 2008

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