Uwe Boll’s $2.5 million Postal Movie crowdfunder is a trainwreck. Forced to abort the campaign after raising $850, the game’s developers say they ‘have no idea’ who the people behind the project are

Uwe Boll's attempt to raise $2.5m in crowdfunding to fund a sequel to the 2007 Postal film, based on the game with the same name, has inevitably failed. All pledges were canceled and will be refunded just days after Indiegogo's campaign for the film launched. By the way, that's 16 pledges or $850 of the overall goal of the film.

The campaign, which was launched on 1 September, was positioned as a protest against "political incorrectness, algorithm [sic] bullyingshit, woke, and cancel culture". Boll wrote in a description that "To do Postal 2... is almost like a duty to freedom of speech, art and life."

It's all very lofty, right? It's therefore all the more strange that Boll did not launch Indiegogo in his own name. The director of the film publicised the campaign but it was launched by Gary Otto, Boll's cohost on his podcast Uwe Boll Raw USA. Otto seems to be the one who did all the gruntwork of running the whole thing.

The problem was that Boll and Otto did not seem to have informed Postal’s developers at Running With Scissors of this, which left them more than a bit baffled. RWS CEO Vince Desiderio stated in an update shared on Facebook and Twitter that "The Official Position of RWS is that we DO NOT Support this Fundraising Effort." I have no idea who Gary Otto is, the project owner. No one has contacted our office about this project, and it is a major concern that the owner states he will use any funds raised to fund another project.

This last bit is a note from Otto, who said that if the campaign did not raise the required $2.5 million or if some other completely unexpectedobstacle arose, the money would be used to fund California Fried Movie, a follow-up to Boll's German Fried Movie which currently has 1.5 out of 10 stars on IMDB. Otto wrote in the campaign's discussion section that if the goal was met, the money would go to either POSTAL 2 or the concept would be redeveloped into a California Fried Movie with much of the original content.

Boll posted on Twitter that $2.5m wouldn't be enough to produce the film in the way he wanted. "If we raise 2.5 mio," he wrote, "I will come up another 2.5 mio...to finish it properly." Boll did not reveal how or where he would raise another $2.5 million to make a sequel to the film that everyone hated.

I'm not a big-shot Hollywood executive, but I'm pretty certain that's not the way you're supposed to secure funding for your dreams of filmmaking. Otto's next update came shortly after RWS had made its position clear. "The film will officially change to California Fried Movie without any involvement from RWS." Otto and Boll apologized to the 16 supporters the campaign had attained by that time, and offered them each a Uwe Boll boxset.

It looks like they won't ever get it. The campaign was suspended shortly after Otto's update. The campaign was suspended shortly after Otto posted the update. Its name changed to "Cancelled All Pledges Refunded We Had No Choice" and Otto stated that "Uwe told me what he desired and I did it." All the attacks, etc. I did not deserve. You'd probably be less than nice if someone cursed at or called you a fraud and shady. "Especially when you were just doing your job."

Otto wrote in a final update that "Once I get the money back, I will refund to you all." Have a nice, OK?

Since then, all social media related to the campaign have been deleted. Otto's account on Twitter and Uwe Boll Raw USA's account on Twitter have been deleted. Boll's account is the only source of updates. Boll informed fans in a video that was posted on the service that "We had no choice but to remove the campaign, it just wasn't worth it."

"I think some people, especially on twitter, should be very sorry for insulting Gary Otto. He did everything - what he had to do - based on my orders to me... Now there's only one person left on Twitter." Meanwhile, "Everyone who paid money will either get their money back or receive a prize. I don't understand how it works."

The project was a total train wreck. Boll says in the same video that "we're not going forward with the crowd-funding." Postal-heads, don't lose hope! "It doesn't mean we won't shoot the film," says he, "we will be seeing." Even RWS isn't completely put off by this whole thing. Vince Desiderio wrote in the same update that the studio had no involvement with Boll's campaign: "We like Uwe, and we look forward the day when our fans can watch a new POSTAL film but not funded this way."

Just between you and I, I would not bet.