He is considered a pioneer of internet gaming videos and is noted for his widespread influence on YouTube content after the series premiered on the platform in 2006.

However, once he started writing scripts, his friends gradually lost interest due to the pressure of trying to remember their lines,[14] which left many of Rolfe's films unfinished.

[16] While in college, Rolfe met several friends who would later become collaborators on future projects, including Mike Matei, Kyle Justin, and Brendan "Bootsy" Castner.

[16] Rolfe operated and ran an annual "haunted house" Halloween attraction out of his parents' garage (the same garage was later used to build a graveyard for his horror comedy film The Deader, the Better and again used in his film/series pilot Jersey Odysseys: Legend of the Blue Hole), utilizing a collection of several props and antiques that he later reused multiple times in his other films.

[20] In the late 1990s, Rolfe created several films, including the B-horror movie The Head Incident, which he completed in 1999 but did not release until its tenth anniversary in 2009.

[22] In 2003, Rolfe created another film, Curse of the Cat Lover's Grave, which was split into three parts to represent three different horror genres.

[8] Although Rolfe originally intended to keep his videos private, his friend and collaborator, Mike Matei, persuaded him to post them to a YouTube channel called "JamesNintendoNerd" (now known as Cinemassacre) on April 6, 2006.

[24] On September 12, 2006, Rolfe's character gained mainstream attention when his review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became popular on YouTube.

[25][29] At the end of 2007, Rolfe paused the production of the series and canceled an appearance at MAGFest after experiencing a strain in his voice.

[30] On March 17, 2010, he announced that he was suffering from burnout due to the demands of consistently writing, directing, and starring in the videos, and that the show would enter a brief hiatus.

In 2014, Rolfe partnered with Screenwave Media to assist with the editing and writing of the series, enabling him to better balance his YouTube projects and prioritize family time.

On May 5, 2006, Rolfe released a music video that included stock footage from a trip he made to England and Scotland.

In early to mid-January 2013, Rolfe had a brief role as a news reporter in an independent short film about Sonic the Hedgehog.

[48] He was offered a role in V/H/S/2 by Adam Wingard, but had to decline due to his commitments on Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie.

[49] He was later offered a potential cameo in Godzilla vs. Kong by Wingard, but the demands of production, combined with the timing of the birth of Rolfe's second daughter, made the arrangement unfeasible.

[56] On May 25, 2017, in a general update video about the future of the YouTube channel, Rolfe announced he was in very early development on what he described as an "atmospheric horror movie... [the film would] take place in one room... very minimal".

[57] On December 29, Rolfe announced that 2018 would focus more on his own original projects and that he had begun writing the untitled horror film, which would be in the vein of past works such as Legend of the Blue Hole and Cinemaphobia.

[58] On August 8, 2018, Rolfe stated that he was 50-75% finished with the script, that it would contain some "nostalgia theming", but that it would likely undergo further rewrites and had no plans to film it in the near future.

[59] On June 19, 2019, Rolfe confirmed that the script was completed, but that his commitment to video production would delay the project for the foreseeable future.

[61] On June 10, 2021, Rolfe released a video explaining the premise of the shelved "nostalgic" horror film: it would involve a man revisiting a childhood amusement park, only to become trapped there.

[62] In May 2007, Rolfe launched a new web series called You Know What's Bullshit?, in which he rants about everyday pet peeves such as pennies, shoelaces, pay toilets, and printers.

Rolfe expressed his desire to explore other Halloween-themed projects and reviews in the future but stated that Monster Madness will always live on in some form.

Monster Madness, under the original branding despite not having videos posted every day, returned in October 2019, now featuring Rolfe with a guest talking about the films.

[67] However, Rolfe redacted and remade the first two published videos of the 2021 series after realizing that his writer had plagiarized content from the episodes' scripts.

[69] The series featured guests such as Kyle Justin, who composed the Angry Video Game Nerd theme song, Brandon Castner, better known as Bad Luck Bootsy from Board James, JonTron and Macaulay Culkin.

[11] In 2004, Rolfe was involved in a car crash when a utility trailer detached from its truck, careered across the highway, and struck him head-on.

Rolfe has not disclosed many details about his daughter, except for a few photos and expressing gratitude that his wife overcame complications during childbirth.

[75] In November 2013, April posted an update on Rolfe's Cinemassacre website, stating that their daughter was undergoing ongoing medical treatment due to unspecified complications.

On April 13, 2016, Rolfe shared more details while announcing an auction of various Cinemassacre memorabilia to benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children.

During birth, his daughter suffered nerve damage to one of her arms, requiring many months of physical therapy to regain full use of it.