They love him in Korea. They hate him in London. But in Bethel Park, where Fiore Mastracci has toiled for the past 22 years producing his cable access show, they don't even recognize him at the grocery store.

His film critiques are pointed, irreverant and decidedly contrarian: Only Mr. Mastracci would describe last year's "The Road" as "excrement on celluloid" and -- on the very same day -- note that the martial arts slugfest"Ninja Assassin" "exemplifies the epitome of excellence in film entertainment."

And though his main priority is his "Outtakes with Fiore" television show -- for which he has won multiple awards -- it's the reviews posted on the popular Web site rottentomatoes.com that have brought him worldwide, er, notoriety.

Last year, a columnist for the Guardian newspaper in London labeled him "the world's worst film critic."

A longstanding forum group on Rotten Tomatoes is named "Fiore Mastracci is an idiot."

And what does Mr. Mastracci make of it?

"Years from now, people will look back at the way I do reviews and think, 'This guy was ahead of his time,' " he said.

At a taping of his television show in the basement of the Bethel Park Municipal Building, Mr. Mastracci adopts a rapid-fire banter in the cadence of a morning show D.J.

"Don't get excited boys -- I'm unbuttoning my shirt," he says, laughing, to his cameraman and a photographer as he inserts his microphone.

No detail is too small as he tinkers with the placement of a faux popcorn box full of film and experiments with various camera angles. The show has won two national awards -- the Telly and the Videographer of Distinction Award -- and is currently up for another one.

A former high school film teacher, Mr. Mastracci is engaging and efficient when the camera rolls, rarely requiring more than one take.

He lauds Jeff Bridges' acting in "Crazy Heart," noting that although "hoi polloi critics in the two letter cities" are just discovering him, he's been singing his praises since "K-Pax."

He pans "Legion" and praises "The Book of Eli," giving it a "coveted Fist of Fiore award."

Throughout his reviews, he goes out of his way to inject conservative political commentary, even naming his YouTube channel The Right Critic.

He sees himself as one of the few checks against liberal Hollywood and the voters of the Motion Picture Academy who "are still using their heads as suppositories."

He's called "Astro Boy" a "communist indoctrination film." And "Finding Nemo" -- "anti-American."

Case in point, he says: Sean Penn's best actor Academy Award for portraying gay activist Harvey Milk.

"He won, why, because he talked goofy?" said Mr. Mastracci. "No, because he was presenting an agenda."

Dave Cable, director of Bethel Park Public Access Television, regularly hears from viewers about Mr. Mastracci's politics -- usually from a positive standpoint. "Bethel Park's a fairly conservative community," he said.

Mr. Mastracci's differences with other film critics are far from just political. On Rotten Tomatoes, which displays critics' scores on a scale of 0 to 10, he is usually several points away -- in either direction -- from the average score.

While 75 percent of critics liked "The Road" and 93 percent liked "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," Mr. Mastracci gave both movies a score of 0 out of 10.

"There are two types of film critics," said Mr. Mastracci. "People who believe that every film is an art form and that every film should win an Academy Award and people who believe films are entertainment, who go to films to relax after a hard day's work."

Because of his experience in film production, his reviews are rich with technical details. In his review earlier this year of the Mel Gibson film "Edge of Darkness," for example, he discusses the director of photography's previous work, the soundtrack, the blocking and the makeup.

Mr. Mastracci also has a keen appreciation for the choreography and camera work of fight scenes, and his enthusiastic analyses of martial arts films have won him positive Internet feedback from fans in Asian countries.

Though he now describes himself as a "short, fat Italian guy," he fought as a middleweight on a professional martial arts circuit in the 1980s.

His reviews are also heavy on catchphrases and references to older movies. He thinks part of the reason that some people dislike his reviews is that they don't get the references.

"There is no excuse for cultural ignorance," he said, recounting the time he sent a female student at Butler Area Senior High School to the back of the classroom because she didn't know who George Harrison was.

Now a 55-year-old father of three, Mr. Mastracci grew up in Dormont, watching one movie every Saturday and one every Sunday.

He studied film at Duquesne University and after graduation took a job writing movie reviews for local newspapers such as the McKees Rocks-based Suburban Gazette and the Monroeville-based Dardanell Publications (now Gateway Newspapers).

He also did freelance film editing and producing, eventually deciding to go into teaching to earn a more steady paycheck. He taught film production at Keystone Oaks High School and Butler Area Senior High School, leaving in 2006 to take a job as an adjunct professor at the Art Institute, Downtown.

When an opportunity to move to North Carolina to direct an Art Institute program didn't pan out, he quit that job and has just been doing freelance jobs since.

He produces and hosts both "Outtakes" and the hockey show "In the Crease" on a volunteer basis.

For years, his feedback was limited even though his cable show was once seen in half a dozen states.

Then came the Internet.

In the Guardian article "Why I Love the World's Worst Film Critic," writer Stuart McGurk calls him "genius-level awful," pointing out that he criticized Kodi Smit-McPhee, the 12-year-old star of "The Road," for having three names.

"Why? Because we were going to be confused by all the other Kodi McPhee's in Tinsel Town?" wrote Mr. Mastracci in his review.

For his part, Mr. Mastracci bemoans the vitriol and anonymity of the Internet. "I don't know if I want to be this far above the radar," he quipped.

He loves to have friendly debates over movies, he said, but Mr. McGurk never even contacted him for a comment.

Still, he's inclined toward the positive.

"First of all, the guy called me a genius -- he's right, I am," he said. "I'm just an amazingly creative and talented guy, and people are just waking up to that."

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