Fury of the Film Fan's story is a fascinating one that ended abruptly. I recently got to interview him and he allowed me to publish everything so with his permission I present to you What Really happened to Fury of the Film Fan.
Who is the man behind the name?
Fury of the Film Fan never showed his face on his videos. He stated many times he wanted to focus on the message of the review rather than become a "personality". He said many times that he wanted to avoid the fame that came with having a popular You Tube Channel and often made comments on the character of people on the internet that helped him make this decision. He received numerous threats when his opinion was unpopular, something he experienced with one of his first reviews on the film Transformers. His Tag Line "Bringing Movie Reviews BACK to the People" was to highlight his reviewing style. Fury of the Film Fan felt movie reviewers were writing reviews for each other more often than for the target audience. His reviews were down to earth and included many personal stories and testimonials on how the film being reviewed connected with him on a personal level.
Despite is videos being simple , he managed to amass many subscribers, a little over 8 thousand. But it was the simplicity of his videos that became one of the biggest issues with Fury of the Film Fan. False copyright claims threatened to bring down his channel multiple times. Images and trailer clips that could be allowed to use were being tagged by You Tube's content ID system.
"What do you think of You Tube?"
Fury - " oh it sucks, totally and completely. I get the allure of having a successful channel. I was there, feeling the thrill of getting new subscribers every day. Then you start getting that You Tube money, the advertisement checks and you start convincing yourself that this is something you can really do.
"What do those checks look like?"
Fury " You're using Google's Adsense, so it's pretty good compared to other revenue sites I've used. I only had 8 thousand subscribers. You don't start seeing decent checks till you're over like 30 thousand. I got a few 100 to 200 dollar checks. It took a few months to get that high then it was every 3 months till I was getting a check every month when I was the most active on my channel.I say most active because my revenue depended on being one of the earliest reviews up for a new movie. You had to get those views while the interest was high for something. If you put out a review for a movie after its release weekend your review was gonna get lost in the flood of videos with similar tags. So there was always that rush home after the movie to get that video rendered as quickly as possible.
I have to admit a few of those checks saved me during a bad time. It was those moments that made me fool myself into thinking this was something that could really be good for me...for my family! But I wasn't taking into account how much time I was spending on this thing. Sure if it's a hobby then yeah the money you're making as a bonus for what you love is always great but it stopped being a hobby and started becoming work. Actual work, a second job that had it's own demands. From a business standpoint I was actually losing money . When you take into account how many hours I would spend on a single movie review. Paying to see the film, the travel expenses, the hours it would take to write the review and then film / edit and render it properly. In the end it just wasn't worth it. Yet there I was convincing myself it was great...that I had to just pay my dues and in the long run i'll see that money.
" If you had over 30k subscribers do you think you would have stayed on You Tube?
Fury - " yeah I think so and I realized early on I didn't want that. I busted it out knowing that on the horizon all this hard work would eventually pay off and it started to. I wanted to become an official film critic and I became an official film critic in New York. I got official movie screening invites from some top name studios including Lionsgate and Sony. These weren't your average public screenings, these places were beautiful. These were the ones you would go to in the middle of the afternoon in their private home theater on a top floor and have to show ID. I enjoyed Expendables in a 30 seat room with the most incredible digital and audio sound system around. I got to enjoy some 3D animated films in the most amazing digital projection I had ever seen. I sat with other critics and even the notorious Armond White. I was addicted. My day started and ended with my channel. Constantly checking messages and making plans to make videos, networking with other channels,emailing back fans who had questions or needed guidance with something. I was creating something special , a new community and it was consuming me.
The Hospital
Fury of the Film Fan reported on his blog that he almost died after a severe case of Strep Pneumonia. He revealed images of himself in the hospital and in one of his blogs he detailed his thought process during the whole ordeal. He ends his Blog by saying
"As I sat there in the Hospital bed, looking out of my 16th floor window at 3:00am, I realized I was no longer concerned with things I can’t control. Health, Family, Love, that’s what is most important and if you don’t have those things then you aren’t living life."
Shortly after this event he announced that he would be retiring from making any more videos for his You Tube channel. Despite his retirement, Fury of the Film Fan remained a part of the community he helped bring together. He was often included in the You Reviewers awards created tby the Schmoes Know and was in constant communication with top channels assisting them wherever they needed.
What went through your mind during this time?
Fury- " I wish I would have wasted less time watching terrible movies and more time with my son" . That's what went through my mind. That I was going to die and I wasted an extreme amount of time on this hobby. I came to the realization that this endeavor of mine was a selfish one, one that really didn't have a positive outcome for the ones I loves and one that would take all my time away from them. I had convinced myself that it was for them but it wasn't , it was for me and all it was, was a huge distraction for me.
I would compare myself to others, seeing how they were so busy in their personal lives and still managed a successful channel but this was my story not theirs and I had to re-write it. I vowed that if I got better I was going to spend all my time on what really mattered. It's a scary thing, to be told you're dying. To see the look in your wife's face who's trying to hold on to something shes not ready to let go of. when that reality hits...it changes you. A lot of people think that I left because I was embarrassed when I dealt with Chris Stuckmann and his legion of fans but that wasn't the case at all, this was the case and the only case, everything else was just my middle finger to what I couldn't stand.
The Chris Stuckmann Visit
Fury of the Film Fan and Chris Stuckmann had a friendship that was at the time, closer than the other content creators. This was largely due to the fact that they shared the same religion growing up and had faced similar situations in their personal life.
Eventually, Fury of the Film Fan had invited Chris Stuckmann to stay with him and his family in his New York apartment.Soon after the trip is over is when things went awry.
"What happened here?
Fury - "It's very simple what happened. My wife invited Chris to stay with us in New York thinking that this is what I wanted. Instead of saying no on the spot I let it go thinking it was one of those maybe one day kind of things. Soon enough Chris was making plans and I didn't have the heart to say no at that point. It did lead to me and my wife having a conversation about communication. We both should have stopped and thought about this. I decided to make the best of it and take a few days off. A few days were needed because this wasn't a two day thing, Chris ended up planning a 4 day 5 night retreat at my place. I wasn't up for that but he already booked it. I sighed and just thought I'd make the best of it.
During the trip Chris was a dark cloud, a very brooding presence in my happy home. We tried offering to go out and do fun things but he only wanted to see movies and do his reviews. He did a wonderful job of ignoring my kid who wanted to talk to him and even tossed my wife attitude when she asked him about his goals and spoke candidly about his future goals. He may not have noticed but this is what we got. He's the type of guy to make everyone miserable and then apologize for it and play the victim. I can't stand that type of person.
One of the issues that bugged the hell out of me was how financial unprepared Chris was to come to New York. For weeks I had told him to save up because New York was expensive. Prior to arriving he spent money on a bunch of Blu rays since he was now starting a collection. My wife left a message online telling him to keep saving for New York. Of course we had food for him that was the extension of our invite and I even went out and bought an air mattress. We didn't have money for these things since my wife was out of work but I put it on credit. I didn't mind , I even spot him for the imax tickets for Mission Impossible 3 he said he'd pay me back because he didn't have a card.
When he got back to Ohio he posted up pics of more blu rays he purchased and even a TV. This was like a slap in the face to us. We couldn't help but feel used. There's a way to handle an invite to stay with people and then there's mooching. Even if the TV was purchased by his parents, why didn't his parents give him money for his trip? That's what any parent would do no? make sure he's got enough and not be a burden to the people hes staying with?
It's not an issue of money, because I treat my friends to many , many things. It's how it all came together...you go back home and start posting pics of your new TV and your blu ray collections and I'm like...wait..how do you have those things now when in New York you could barely afford a metrocard? It was pure D-baggery and I kept quiet about it. I didn't confront him about it, the colors were already shown especially when he ignored us after his trip. Something he admitted to AFTER I made those videos on him. He admitted he ignored me because I was somehow a negative influence on his spirituality. I found that to be a hilarious excuse. I really understood him as a person after he said that.
See, Chris grew up under the same religious upbringing I did. So when he first closed his channel I knew what pressures he was under among his family and friends.. I offered some advice, I told him to make sure he made his choices for himself and not because he wanted to keep some friends. This is what made me think we were closer than we were. I assumed this and I let my guard down. I realized early on I didn't know this person whom I let into my house and this was all my fault. He used this as the excuse, that my advice to him, to think for himself, was why he ignored me and made me a bad influence. Meanwhile, the guy had already decided to not continue to live by his faith anymore.
And this is who Chris was in a nutshell, someone who blamed other people for things. He always projected things back and it was never an apology with him. It was always "I'm sorry YOU feel that way" stuff and I've seen him that way with plenty of other people , not just me.
The guy had this chip on his shoulder , like, you couldn't talk to him about anything other than movies. . This one time, my wife was making casual conversation and asked him what he thought he was going to do (work related) and Chris's response was that he intended to move to California and work toward being a movie critic in L.A. so there was this pause...and my wife asks what how he planned to support himself or maybe go to college first to learn about the trade he wanted to jump into, with him being a "filmmaker" and all and his face just changed. I don't think he realized it but after that he pretty much ignored my wife and gave off a little attitude for the rest of the trip. He really was planning to move to LA and he planned to cling on to the Schmoes Know and all their contacts (this is what he does).
There was no room for casual conversation with Chris, no getting to know him. Everything was either about movies or something superficial. We were adults talking to a child who didn't know how to carry a real conversation and it was awkward. When it was clear Chris didn't want to talk about anything personal we pulled back and our conversations were much..much shorter. "
Fury of the Film Fan would later find out that Chris started asking for Blu Rays and in return, Chris would offer the donators a "shout out". Fury didn't like this at all considering that's not how Chris was given his own opportunities. Fury of the Film Fan would then reveal to me many of the issues he at first ignored but was constantly brought to his attention by others to the point where he could no longer ignore it.
Fury " This is when I started getting pissed off. Despite how I felt about his trip visit I never told anybody how it went. Everyone assumed it went well. People were coming to me complaining about Chris, about how he was tossing around his weight and using his status to get him things like free blu rays and stuff. This wasn't just a "hey if you got any you don't want toss them my way" this was a very specific demand. He offered in return spots on his channel, shout outs. considering this isn't what was done for him I thought it was the doucheiest thing to do. I started seeing a pattern of behavior with the guy, something I ignored early on.
It wasn't just blu ray requests, it was him sticking his nose into everything and taking credit for things. He positioned himself in front of the line pushing everyone over and then saying "sorry, excuse me". And it was his terrible response to people as well. The ones whom complained all said he was a dick to them which made sense to me because I saw first hand that when Chris doesn't want anything from you, he can care less about you. Many of the complaints came from top channel creators , they hated how he was behaving and wanted something done about it. They were tired of his attitude and wanted me to talk to him since I was his friend. I had to let them know that he was indeed...NOT a friend. That he just finished ignoring me for about 3 months and that I know first hand that nothing you say to him will reach him. But I knew how to get to him...
The Ignorant Intellect
A video started floating around the community. The video contained a masked person with a dubbed voice. In the video, the person calling himself the Ignorant Intellect made various claims against Chris Stuckmann including the blatant similarities he was displaying on his reviews compared to other reviewers. The ignorant Intellect pointed out Chris's bad habit of taking credit for things he had little to no involvement in like the YouReviewer Awards and calling the WeLiveFilm website his website and highlighted Chris's pattern of behavior involving selling ad spots on his videos for gifts and "donations"
This video circulated and many said that the person in the video closely resembled Fury of the Film Fan's outline. Chris had his fans decipher this mystery even more by slowing down the dubbed voice and compare it to Fury of the Film Fan's. The video went viral among their community.
Another Video was made shortly after highlighting even more of Chris'behavior and coupled with a parody of the LMFAO song "Sorry for Party Rocking" titled "Sorry for Chris Stuckmann" where the Ignorant Intellect apologizes to the community for the actions of Chris Stuckmann. Many would go forward and accuse Fury of the Film Fan for making the video and attacked him online.
Were you the Ignorant Intellect ?
Fury- " Yes and No. After weeks of skyping with people and hearing their complaints and bad mouthing Chris I figured something had to be done. Talking to Chris wasn't going to do a damn thing because the guy was so wrapped up in this online world that only doing something online was going to get his attention. I knew Chris had a thing for Trolls having helped Chris attack people online. I felt bad for doing that. I always felt bad for how we went after people online, like a bully and I knew that Chris just could not resist someone not liking him online. Thing is the Ignorant Intellect was a guy I was developing for a while, I was considering on making a guy who would rant about things like religion, politics and other issues. Someone who would speak the truth about things but after seeing all the ugliness in this community I had helped to create I decided to use this as a final nail in the coffin for my online presence .
Now I only did this after I considered all other options. I reached out to the top you tube channels and nobody wanted to help me with Chris's behavior. I explained how he was affecting the community they chose to be a part of and the only person who responded was Catherine Reitman who basically said she had no problems with him, which isn't what I asked, I asked for help in dealing with him and with no response it was clear to me that people didn't care for the community they claimed to be in. They were out for their own channels. "
One of the complainers was in charge of leaving random comments on peoples videos against stuckmann. These comments would get a bunch of likes becoming top comments. These comments were from real people, not from bots or multiple accounts. These were people who were tired of Stuckmann's ways. Some of the comments left behind were not very nice, some downright inappropriate but their job was to get attention and they did.
Who were the people involved ?
Fury - " For a while I said that It really made no sense to name names now when I didn't name them before. But after some time passed I got angrier at some people who had the audacity to take no responsibility for their own behavior. I took mine..they should take theirs. These people had no problem talking about Chris behind his back for weeks. Laughing at him, making fun of him and cursing at him. So when I voiced the Ignorant Intellect I was saying the things THEY said. Notice the Ignorant Intellect never made mention about not paying me back for Imax tickets.
So I don't feel bad when I name Jenn Pan, Shipperwar, Gabriel Aka StuffedBurritoEnt, RomeroNews,Bambuproductions to name a few.
. The people involved didn't have the common decency to step up and say something when things went down. Some of these people had no problem bad mouthing Chris behind his back, when it came to me repeating EXACTLY what they said they didn't even leave a single comment in agreement. They hid under a rock. Bambu asked me why I didn't have the common decency to explain why I removed them from my personal facebook account. I didn't answer...why should I ? They didn't speak up for me and left me out to hang so why on Earth would I even bother to explain to her my actions?
Gabriel really pissed me off. This guy was really vocal about things [against stuckmann] and then I come to find out a year later the guys talking trash about me. I never said his name when things went down, when I was dealing with ALLLL the angry fans, the people accusing me of making stuff up while Stuckmann was acting like a victim. There was no reason for him to talk about me the way he did. It was not until I heard him talking about me to some other guy that I unleashed on StuffedBurritoEnt. Before that, I never called him names , never made fun of him and here he is cursing me out to people asking him about me. Calling me a bitch, what a disrespectful prick. ..
Why did you close your Channel ?
Fury - " I closed it because I was done. The way these people acted, it was a reminder of why I had to go. I mean aside from the social aspect of the community I was a bit lost at the time, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and I guess I should thank Chris for figuring it out because I knew no matter what...I didn't want to be THAT guy. I closed my channel and focused on rebuilding myself in the real world. I didn't want to be a film critic, I didn't want to make a living off of YouTube, I didn't want a career that would suck up so much of my time for very little in return. I didn't want any of that stuff. So I signed up to finish College, shortly after that I got a new position with my job with a raise, got my health back in order and I focused my attention back to what's important to me and that is my family and my spirituality.
Spirituality?
Fury - "Yeah you know...sense of purpose and worth, hope for the future beyond what is known, after experiencing the internet and all it entails it gives me hope that there might be a place where i'll no longer be surrounded by idiots."
I see...Do you have any regrets?
Fury " yeah, I really wished I left You Tube earlier. Being a You Tube partner is just ...stupid. Of course it's not stupid for those who make big bucks off it and that right there is the carrot at the end of the stick , right? and then we go into the whole "work for your dreams and reach for the stars" motto we tell people to allow them to believe they can achieve anything. Yeah, hard work and you'll yield results, that's fundamental and can be applied to anything ELSE. The problem is, You Tube isn't a great place to hang your hat. It's not YOUR channel. You don't own those videos. They allow you to monetize them but at any time they can close your channel down and ignore your calls to re-open them. Anybody who quits their job to do You Tube full time is a fool. I've always told people use it as a tool, the same way they've used you.
Have you spoken to Chris or anybody since then?
Fury - A lot of people thought Chris was the victim in this, because he sat there and well..played the victim. This would have been different had those hypocrites actually SAID what they were saying behind his back. I'm not built that way, I'm not a coward , I shouted out what I felt to every single person out there that this guy was a dick and acting as such. Chris had multiple accounts and came at me in different ways. One of the ways he came at me in return was that he got his friend to upload videos he made against me, messing around with the truth, twisting it. I ended up shutting down that channel for using my image without permission[after multiple warnings to stay out of it].
Chris never took responsibility for it, he basically threw his friend under the bus. He lied to me saying it wasn't him when I had the people who owned the channel tell me it was him that made the videos and put them up to it. But that's who Chris is, a liar and a manipulator. I confirmed this when I called people who knew him in Ohio[personally]. I needed to know that it wasn't just me or my wife who had a problem with him and sure enough a few people who grew up with him confirmed his personality.
He might get along with other people but it's only because he wants something. Look at every video collab he's done with people., He's just this shallow delusional kid. Chris wrote to me I think two more times after that. Playing the victim again. His apologies filled with accusations it was disgusting. He tried to blame me for things he did, why he did them. He said things like "I didn't give you the appreciation you felt you deserved" which is such an insult. This jackass went around telling people we were such good friends and how he just didn't understand why I was angry at him then in emails tells me he DID ignore me and the reason for doing so is because he felt I was a bad influence on his religion. but he already LEFT his religion! the REAL reason he ignored me is because he was done with what I had to offer, channel or place to stay and set his sights toward the people who can help him reach his new goals. THAT is why I unloaded my rage on him online, that is why a simple conversation with him wasn't going to suffice.
He's just a piece of crap down to the core, seriously. As for other people, they never had the nerve to say anything to me face to face. Gabriel had no problem telling someone else what he felt but when I confronted him and told him to talk to me like a man, he stood shut. The rest of the die hard fans and those people who had no problem cursing at me when they had no involvement in the situation or no facts can just ..well..continue being idiots on the internet. The ignorant Intellect did a good job of showing how the people who were against trolls were the real trolls. It went right over people's heads but I tell ya what, Chris isn't a troll hunter anymore is he?
What's next for Fury?
Fury - " I just got my NY Fire Safety Directors license and my job is giving me two of their new buildings to oversee, that's going to take a lot of my time. Once I finish with my degree in Civil Engineering I plan to get my Masters .I hope to see a few people I've met online when I was a critic. Somewhere along the line I'll work toward a writing degree , I have a lot I want to write when I'm retired and I think I'll follow the original goal, which was to be a film critic when I retire.
I am planning a few events for the group of people I have kept on my personal facebook. Unlike what some dumbass kids have thought not everyone turned on me, there were a bunch that stayed on my side and were loyal as good friends. I plan to do real world things with these people and continue to allow these relationships turn into real friendships. Other than that , I wish a few people the success they deserve, I'm a big fan of the Schmoes Know, Jeremy Jahns and Scott Menzel. Menzel is a hard core critic who is on his way and Jeremy is just pure personality, the guy is great. Schmoes are pure entertainment and Kristian is one of the nicest guys I ever met. Sadly I couldn't keep my relationship going with him, he was too influential and I just needed to be away from all aspects of the community. But I'm in a real good place right now..happy.Happy to be gone and happy to be doing something else.
Those are all my questions, Thank you for your time Fury !
Fury- Hey you're welcome, . Take care!
- Interview conducted by Joseph Barnsby
