Christopher Michael Stuckmann (born April 15, 1988)[5][6][7][8] is an American YouTuber, filmmaker, author, and film critic.[9][10] As one of the most popular film critics on YouTube, Stuckmann has over 2 million subscribers and over 771 million views on the platform as of December 2024.[11] On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, he is an approved critic[12] and a member of the Critics Choice Association.[13] In mid-2021, it was announced that Stuckmann had signed to write and direct his full feature debut Shelby Oaks with Paper Street Pictures and producer Aaron B. Koontz.[14]
Early life
Stuckmann was born in Boston Heights, Ohio, growing up with two older sisters.[5][15] Stuckmann is partly of German descent. He took an interest in film criticism from a young age, writing brief reviews of films as early as age fourteen. His primary inspiration among professional film critics was Roger Ebert, particularly the television-program Siskel & Ebert & the Movies which Ebert co-hosted with Gene Siskel. He writes that by watching these reviews, he "discovered the idea of a debate on a film, but a respectful one".[16]
Stuckmann cites his experience watching Signs in theaters as a child as his primary inspiration for becoming a filmmaker. Filmmakers Stuckmann has cited as having heavily influenced him include George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, M. Night Shyamalan, and Christopher Nolan. Throughout high school, Stuckmann wrote and directed numerous homemade movies and short films with friends and family.[17]
Career
Beginnings and YouTube success
He began publishing YouTube reviews of current films in his twenties and published his first film review in 2009.[18] His reviews initially began under a short-form series titled Quick Movie Reviews. When he began publishing video reviews, there was only a small group of other video bloggers reviewing films on YouTube. He has also expanded into reviewing television shows, anime, and video games.[19][20]
He published his first book, The Film Buff's Bucket List: The 50 Movies of the 2000s to See Before You Die, in 2016.[5][15] A year later, he directed and wrote the short filmAuditorium 6.[21] In April 2018, Stuckmann published his second book titled Anime-Impact: The Movies and Shows that changed the World of Japanese Animation.
Stuckmann has become among the most popular film critics on the website, having a following of over 2.03 million subscribers as of December 2024. Stewart Fletcher of Moviepilot ranked Stuckmann's YouTube channel as the number one channel that movie fans should subscribe to, citing Stuckmann's passionate and coherently written reviews as the reason.[22]
In a 2021 YouTube video titled "Moving Forward...", Stuckmann announced that he would be minimizing film reviews and would stop criticizing "bad" films. He would focus instead on analyzing, discussing, and guiding others on filmmaking. Stuckmann gave two reasons for this shift. First, he stated that he thought of himself as primarily a filmmaker, and wanted to shift focus into his film projects. Second, due to his popularity - which Stuckmann credits to being one of the first movie reviewers on YouTube in the early days of the platform - he was given the opportunity to be more involved in the production of films. He cited that seeing the effort and time that goes into the film production changed his perspective: "I no longer feel comfortable talking negatively about film. Meeting filmmakers, talking to them at festivals, going on to their sets, seeing how much work goes into even your average not-so-great movie; I just don't feel like doing that anymore. I don't want to talk negatively about filmmakers. I don't want to trash filmmakers. It would be strange for me to be making movies and also [trashing] filmmakers. Also, there's plenty of that on [YouTube] already."[23]
The Kickstarter, which was launched in March 2022, quickly became the most-funded horror film on the site mere weeks after launch, while also surpassing the film's initial $250,000 goal.[25] The final fundraising campaign ended on March 27, with $1,390,845 raised.[26][27] In May 2024, Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy, and Melinda Nishioka were revealed to be executive producers on the film, under their production company Intrepid Pictures.[28]Shelby Oaks had its world premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival on July 20, 2024.[29][30] In June 2024, Stuckmann signed with The Gersh Agency, for representation in film, including Shelby Oaks.[31]
Personal life
Stuckmann has been married to his wife Samantha Elizabeth, who goes by Sam Liz, since 2014.[32] He is also a former Jehovah's Witness and in January 2021 he uploaded a video in which he detailed his negative experiences with the religion, and how he eventually left the faith in his early twenties to pursue filmmaking. In the same video, he also publicly came out as pansexual.[33][34][35][36] On November 21, 2021, Stuckmann announced that Liz had given birth to twin boys, Fox and Grayson, on July 7, 2021. In the video, Liz spoke about her health issues and difficulties with fertility treatments.[37]
