12 Things That Were Really To Blame For Hollywood's Biggest F*ck Ups

9. Uwe Boll's Video Game Adaptations Were Tax Scams

We will give Uwe Boll one thing €“ he addresses his critics, of which there are many. He addresses them by inviting them to box him for charity, rather than actually trying to improve his filmmaking techniques, but he addresses them nonetheless. The German director became infamous in geekdom and beyond for cornering the market in terrible, usually direct-to-video adaptations of video games. Not just terrible in the grand tradition of Super Mario Bros and the like, but truly execrable. And usually, somehow, based on the biggest titles on the market €“ somehow he's gotten his hands on the rights to Far Cry and Alone In The Dark €“ and actors who should really know better. So what's the deal? Why are the films so terrible? They go further even than the usual trouble in translation that results in duds like Silent Hill. Boll is just a crummy director (who, nonetheless, still manages to cast the likes of Ben Kingsley), and one whose work is universally reviled. That's not the whole story, however; because there's plenty of similarly untalented directors who keep getting work, albeit usually not on projects you've actually heard of. Turns out it's a lot more complicated than that €“ or not so much, if you're familiar with the plot of The Producers. Boll's scam is the exact same as the hack Broadway producers who discover a tax loophole which allows them to make more on a failed musical than a successful one, as Boll's German citizenship entitles him to significant kick backs if he makes a terrible film. Which he does. A lot. And, seemingly, intentionally.