Cinemassacre (AVGN/James Rolfe) Caught Plagiarizing Latest Review (Up: Was an accident)

alr1ght · Oct 2, 2021

Some background: Monster Madness is a review series of short (3-10 minutes each) horror movies going back years. Typically, they post one per day in October, usually based around an overall theme. Previously they were all written and reviewed by James Rolfe, but within the past few years he has employed additional writers and producers that help with the scripts.

28 Days Later (2002) Review
Original video (original link (still up as of posting time): https://odysee.com/@Cinemassacre:b/01---28-Days-Later:2)

Video comparing the similarities

Original review (written in 2003)

Review: 28 Days Later

(Danny Boyle, U.K., 2003)

www.filmcomment.com

They've removed the video from their site and issued the following statement:

NOTE from Justin Silverman:
Sadly this video had some plagiarism accidentally, so we're fixing the video.

As a statement:
"Yes, those sections in the video are WAY too similar to that 2003 article I saw posted.
I figured out what happened after talking with James and retracing our steps.
The 28 Days Later script has been in draft for like a decade. The doc also had notes in there, including quotes and reviews from when the movie came out and over the years, see how it's been perceived over time… but, these notes clearly got mixed in, HOPEFULLY fucking accidentally… but I'm still figuring that part out. I notice a lot of the items were verbatim, so, yeah, hopefully a mistake. A few people helped us with a few of these scripts, so, I'm now knocking heads and checking everything else.
I am NOT happy about it and plagiarism is NEVER okay. I should have personally been more on top of this as producer, I'm sorry. And in all my years of doing this, it's the first time it's happen… but it won't happen again. I know how much Monster Madness means to the fans, myself, and James.
Lastly, I want this script completely re-written and fixed by the end of the month too, as a make-good. James had a lot of personal stories in there too he wanted to get across, and this situation muddied those stories. I apologize."

EDIT:
Happened two more times since

Cinemassacre (AVGN/James Rolfe) Caught Plagiarizing Latest Review (Up: Was an accident)

It happened again... And again... https://www.resetera.com/threads/cinemassacres-monster-madness-returns-with-cinemassacres-monster-madness-around-the-world-31-episodes.493419/page-2#post-74530719

www.resetera.com

Squarehard · Oct 2, 2021

BasilZero · Oct 2, 2021

So it was one of his writers that messed up?

Not good especially since they decided to go more into it this year compared to previous years :(

DiipuSurotu · Oct 2, 2021

Good apology. I believe him

entremet · Oct 2, 2021

Title needs more clarity. I seems like it was James. It was a writer for Cinemassacre and the writer apologized.

TheLastOfPizzaCrUSt · Oct 2, 2021

They havent even put up a new one today. They have this guy Newt '''writing''' all the CM MM this month, james just reads it, newt plagiarized the whole series most likely.

John Rabbit · Oct 2, 2021

Plausible explanation. I can see how maybe they had put the original review in there as a reference but over time forgot it wasn't something they had originally written. At least they responded quickly and (seemingly) honestly.

BLEEN · Oct 2, 2021

Sounds like an honest mistake.

ElectricBlanketFire · Oct 2, 2021

They put out so much content I believe the explanation.

SolidSnakeUS · Oct 2, 2021

I think the title should be updated that there has been a response and an apology.

jph139 · Oct 2, 2021

A lot of that isn't even interesting stuff - it's like, just a basic description of the plot. And then on the other hand, the phrasing of some of the social commentary analysis seemed very unusual for him in the video, so seeing that it was ghost-written (and swiped to boot!) adds up.

Not a great sign, honestly. I buy that it wasn't something the organization at large was intentionally doing, but I don't think you accidentally steal wholesale for a script like that without knowing, so SOMEONE was cutting corners. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to scrap/rework the whole thing, because if there's plagiarism in the first video, there's definitely going to be more of it.

DanarchyReigns · Oct 2, 2021

I can believe it was an accident. James has been clean for a long time.
That said, if James is leaving even Monster Madness to Screenwave? Then that's sad. I can understand AVGN, but Monster Madness was always something he was passionate about. Getting the chance to really nerd out about horror movies. It really does feel like he's trying to make Cinemassacre "corporate"
And I can see somewhat understand. James is over 40 years old now, he has kids, he can't exactly do everything on his own now like he did in 2007. But at the same time, he really should be involved more if stuff like this slips through the cracks.

Deleted member 13101 · Oct 2, 2021

What is accidental plagarism?

Sliver · Oct 2, 2021

Don't really buy it to be honest. The slight word changes to make it sound better on video were done when, exactly? 10 years ago when James "compiled" his notes and reviews, or recently by a new writer? Pretty embarrassing and annoying, was always a fan of these videos from way back and thought they were something James did personally.

DiipuSurotu · Oct 2, 2021

Wonderment said:
What is accidental plagarism?

It's explained in the OP

OneTrueJack · Oct 2, 2021

Doesn't James no longer write his own material? So yeah it's more his team/producers that fucked up.

Deleted member 13101 · Oct 2, 2021

DiipuSurotu said:
It's explained in the OP

So it means "hopefully fucking accidentally"?

Deleted member 13798 · Oct 2, 2021

It's a plausible explanation honestly. If he had a pattern of this I'd say it was bullshit, but he doesn't.

Saucycarpdog · Oct 2, 2021

Still pretty dumb for James to hype up bringing back a classic series only for the first episode to expose the fact he didn't even give his own opinions on it.

TaySan · Oct 2, 2021

Sounds like a genuine apology. I'm t this was a pattern I would be concerned.

FerrisBueller · Oct 2, 2021

I don't really see how the quotes would be changed slightly as they were if that excuse was legit.

ErichWK · Oct 2, 2021

The explanation actually does sound legit and I do feel bad for James, especially cause he was so stoked on this project.

Mivey · Oct 2, 2021

Wonderment said:
What is accidental plagarism?

it seemed like they had notes for this episode lying around for a long time. Presumably created by someone else, before the script for the episode was written by someone from Screenweave. If the original notes didn't clearly mark original content from reference material, then it's easy to see how the new writer could mix them up and essentially plagiarise existing reviews without noticing.

boontobias · Oct 2, 2021

Saucycarpdog said:
Still pretty dumb for James to hype up bringing back a classic series only for the first episode to expose the fact he didn't even give his own opinions on it.

Rolfe did a great state of the union video a few months ago breaking this down. AVGN and Cinemassacre have been a business for a while now with him as the spokesperson and asked folks not to begrudge it since he wants to provide for his family.

they probably cut a deal to bring it back for this 'odysee' thing

jett · Oct 2, 2021

lol what an accident.

Is James just a mouthpiece for other people's writing now? That's what I'm getting out of the statement from his producer. I was kinda excited for Monster Mandess this year but finding out he's not writing anything makes me not even want to bother.

Lothar · Oct 2, 2021

Saucycarpdog said:
Still pretty dumb for James to hype up bringing back a classic series only for the first episode to expose the fact he didn't even give his own opinions on it.

jett said:
lol what an accident.

Is James just a mouthpiece for other people's writing now? That's what I'm getting out of the statement from his producer.

Yeah this is the main horrible thing, not the accidental plagerizism, which I can believe of James since this is the first case I've heard in 15 years of that and he's prolific

jett · Oct 2, 2021

Lothar said:
Yeah this is the main horrible thing, not the accidental plagerizism, which I can believe of James since this is the first case I've heard in 15 years of that and he's prolific

I personally got no doubt James isn't to blame. Other than not being on top of the content he's putting his name on. Oh well.

excelsiorlef · Oct 2, 2021

My takeaway is he's nerd Tom Clancy now lol

Stone Cold · Oct 2, 2021

jett said:
I personally got no doubt James isn't to blame. Other than not being on top of the content he's putting his name on. Oh well.

He hates doing the videos but they pay his bills, it's kind-of a sad state of affairs.

Arkeband · Oct 2, 2021

jett said:
lol what an accident.

Is James just a mouthpiece for other people's writing now? That's what I'm getting out of the statement from his producer. I was kinda excited for Monster Mandess this year but finding out he's not writing anything makes me not even want to bother.

the non-AVGN stuff I've heard him narrate sounds like he's reading a wikipedia and is bored out of his mind anyway, idk what people get out of this channel.

FerrisBueller · Oct 2, 2021

jett said:
lol what an accident.

Is James just a mouthpiece for other people's writing now? That's what I'm getting out of the statement from his producer.

It seems like it's been that way for a while for most of the Cinemassacre content.

jett · Oct 2, 2021

Stone Cold said:
He hates doing the videos but they pay his bills, it's kind-of a sad state of affairs.

Arkeband said:
the non-AVGN stuff I've heard him narrate sounds like he's reading a wikipedia and is bored out of his mind anyway, idk what people get out of this channel.

FerrisBueller said:
It seems like it's been that way for a while for most of the Cinemassacre content.

Personally I had long unsubbed from his channel but someone here posted his recent C64 video and I really enjoyed it and thought maybe things were better now. But seems not.

alr1ght · Oct 2, 2021

It happened again...

I've only gone through the first half of the video paying attention to quotes, but here is the plagiarism so far, in order:

1) "Bad Taste is the story of four men from a government agency trying to deal with an alien invasion of a small New Zealand town" - https://screenagewasteland.com/bad-taste-1987-review/

James quote from video: "Not those boys, but these four men from a government agency trying to deal with an alien invasion in a small New Zealand town" (1:39)

2) "Like Peter Jackson who directed, co-written, acted, edited, cinematography and did the special effects" - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092610/reviews - post by user lost-in-limbo:

James quote from video: "So Jackson handled acting, writing, directing, cinematography, editing, and special effects for the film." (2:06)

3) "He's bloodthirsty (his interrogation methods include pounding a bayonet into Robert's heel while hanging him upside down off a cliff), clumsy, funny and a little too full of himself" - https://screenagewasteland.com/bad-taste-1987-review/

James quote from video: "He's bloodthirsty, clumsy, funny, and a little too full of himself" (2:28)

And again...

Cinemassacre's Monster Madness Returns with Cinemassacre's Monster Madness: Around the World! (31 Episodes)

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheCinemassacre/comments/pzlsen/the_monster_madness_28_days_later_episode_is/hf21b7y/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Justin Silverman has commented on the plagiarism.

www.resetera.com

Gentlemen · Oct 2, 2021

so many accidents!

Deleted member 79451 · Oct 2, 2021

Yeah the whole issue seems to be hiring quality people, but I really do wonder what James works on that he can't even do a relatively slapdash version of Monster Madness now. He doesn't have a full time job apart from site content right (and not working on another full feature length movie?)?

Stone Cold said:
He hates doing the videos but they pay his bills, it's kind-of a sad state of affairs.

Curious based on what, and what is his actual passion? Making full movies?

Darkmaigle · Oct 2, 2021

I 100% believe them and see the apology as sincere

Grenchel · Oct 2, 2021

The Bad Taste example is iffy until you get to the last quote. Id imagine overlap happens a lot when people describe movies plots and moments in them in reviews.

The other examples are pretty damming tho.

DanarchyReigns · Oct 2, 2021

So not only was the planned Bad Taste review plagiarized, but so was The Host.
Best move is to probably cancel posting the rest of the videos. Do some major reorganization because this shit is foul.

Adam_Roman · Oct 2, 2021

Was Screenwave involved in these? I know they've taken over a lot of behind the scenes stuff in AVGN so James can be more present with his family.

DanarchyReigns · Oct 2, 2021

Adam_Roman said:
Was Screenwave involved in these? I know they've taken over a lot of behind the scenes stuff in AVGN so James can be more present with his family.

Screenwave has basically been in everything for the past 4 or 5 years.
The story is that one of the writers fucked up really hard.

WillyFive · Oct 2, 2021

Jigen said:
Curious based on what, and what is his actual passion? Making full movies?

Yeah, but the one major one he did flopped, sadly.

BassForever · Oct 2, 2021

Best move is to cancel monster madness at this point, scrap the plans for this year and maybe do a few episodes at the end of October once the screenwave team has redone the scripts from scratch and made sure their reviews are actually original.

This whole situation is the most damning for James and his content. James is clearly a good guy, but clearly he needs to hire better people to write for him.

Adam_Roman · Oct 2, 2021

DanarchyReigns said:
Screenwave has basically been in everything for the past 4 or 5 years.
The story is that one of the writers fucked up really hard.

Okay, that's what I thought but I haven't been following Cinemassacre in the last year or so.

big_z · Oct 2, 2021

Jigen said:
Yeah the whole issue seems to be hiring quality people, but I really do wonder what James works on that he can't even do a relatively slapdash version of Monster Madness now. He doesn't have a full time job apart from site content right (and not working on another full feature length movie?)?
Curious based on what, and what is his actual passion? Making full movies?

I think he's just inefficient with his work flow. He did a behind the scenes videos a while back and remember thinking there's much easier ways to do what he's doing.

Anyway he's back to doing nerd full time with the podcast, movie content and his band taking up time as well. I think he said he has a couple short film ideas in the works too. A lot of people have a hate hard-on for screenwave but James still does a lot of the work and has control over his content ideas. Screenwave is there for production support especially on the more elaborate videos. Every third or so nerd video has been noticeably more complex. It seems like he's having fun infusing his love of movies into the nerd videos.

DanarchyReigns · Oct 2, 2021

WillyFive said:
Yeah, but the one major one he did flopped, sadly.

Is that really a surprise? It was a movie based on a crude internet show about a basement dweller that plays old crappy games. The audience was limited to the existing AVGN fanbase and not much else.

BassForever · Oct 2, 2021

DanarchyReigns said:
Is that really a surprise? It was a movie based on a crude internet show about a basement dweller that plays old crappy games. The audience was limited to the existing AVGN fanbase and not much else.

Just because it was a lore movie doesn't mean it had to be terrible. The AVGN movie is awful and the only reason it doesn't get ripped to shreds more is because James is a nice guy that people genuinely like. If James was a punk like his old pal Doug Walker I'm sure we'd see a lot more video essays on the avgn film.

hidys · Oct 2, 2021

As someone who remebers the state of youtube when he was masive and everyone was copying what he did this is deeply ironic.

davepoobond · Oct 2, 2021

Unfortunate circumstances. Sounds like a lazy writer who got away with it for too long

jett · Oct 2, 2021

Unsurprising that more episodes are guilty of the same thing.

BassForever said:
Just because it was a lore movie doesn't mean it had to be terrible. The AVGN movie is awful and the only reason it doesn't get ripped to shreds more is because James is a nice guy that people genuinely like. If James was a punk like his old pal Doug Walker I'm sure we'd see a lot more video essays on the avgn film.

Regardless of the quality of the movie, it's a huge accomplishment that it got made at all. It's just crazy thinking about it, that James' video shitposts spawned a feature-length film. I didn't like it at all, but I'm glad he got to make it.

TheGamingNewsGuy · Oct 3, 2021

I feel bad for James on some level since this is probalby more the writers fault but at the same time - he probalby should have checked the scripts more closely

Cinemassacre (AVGN/James Rolfe) Caught Plagiarizing Latest Review (Up: Was an accident)

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