Uwe Boll (born June 22, 1965) is a German filmmaker and restaurateur. He finances his own films through his production companies Boll KG and Event Film Productions. Many of his films are produced on low budgets and Boll himself has backed his projects financially or made use of crowdfunding platforms. His career is generally divided into two distinct phases: the first of big-budget fare, many adapted from video games, with a usually renowned cast, most of which gained him a reputation as a 'schlock maestro', while receiving primarily negative critical reviews, with Alone in the Dark (2005) considered one of the worst films ever made. His second phase is marked by films of smaller or independent backing, relatively unknown actors and different approaches to filmmaking; Boll's Rampage film series, Tunnel Rats, Stoic, Amoklauf, Heart of America, Assault on Wall Street and Darfur were better received. Boll decided to branch out from filmmaking in 2016 to work in the restaurant industry. He opened his Bauhaus Restaurant in Vancouver, which had earned positive reviews among food critics. In 2022, he returned to making films after selling the restaurant.