Siskel and Ebert review "The Final Chapter"

[undeadwillfeast]

Check out this clip of Siskel and Ebert reviewing The Final Chapter in 1984. Ebert in particular doesn't seem to be a fan of the series.

youtube.com/watch?v=3Zevvnd9YOI

[HNT]

I don't really disagree with the film receiving a negative review at all. It would be absurd by any critical standards to give this film a positive review. It is cynical, mindless, and empty. It is absolutely predictable and serves up gore as entertainment. I'd never trust a critic again who claimed that one f the Friday sequels was "good". That said, films like this are made with a specific audience in mind. that audience isn't looking for a brilliant or challenging film. They are looking for a bloody pay off. There is nothing wrong IMHO with enjoying a slasher film, but you do have to have pretty bad taste in movies to confuse a film that was fun to watch with a film that is artistically worthwhile. Those are 2 different standards by which to measure a movie

[Nobody]

God that was just mind numbing. lol. To here them ramble on about how terrible this movie is and that its teaching kids that the world is really how a Friday the 13th movie portrays it. This is why I don't listen to film critics. Most of the time they are just pretentious assholes that like to tell people what they should see. Sure the Friday the 13th films are not good in an artistic way, but to say these films as somthing evil almost is just absurd. It wasn't even a review, it was more like two christians scolding people for watching a horror film.

[HNT]

I don't know. They were challenging the the studios for continuing to put out uninspiring and unoriginal stuff more than anything. I think the complaint clearly came from two people who didn't like the Friday series, but I think that the major complaint was tht the movie was compoletely unoriginal. I can't really disagree with that assessment

[undeadwillfeast]

Yeah LdC, it's crazy how he just completely condemns the movie, which is the best in the series in my opinion and one of my all time faves. Siskel even seems taken aback by his ranting. Sure, these movies aren't oscar winners or anything, but they do their job and give you exactly what you want. Some cool gore, inventive deaths, a menacing killer(especially this one, the last Friday film where Jason was scary), creepy atmosphere, and a few jumps.

[Nobody]

Yea, its just a fun horror film to kick back and watch with some pizza and friends. They need to stop taking it seriously because it wasn't meant to be. They should also stop taking themselves seriously.

To HNT:

Are you kidding. That wasn't the main complaint. All Ebert did was talk about how terrible this film was and that it was sending a bad message to kids. Then Siskel would try to make a point while disagreeing with Ebert and then just back down and say "oh I agree with you its terrible, but-but-......yea oh well." Im not saying that the Friday the 13th films are worth of artistic merit in any way, but this review sucked. It was just people scolding the ones who watch it.

[HNT]

THe film IS terrible. YOu can't really dispute that even if you do enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. What could a serious film critic possibly find to praise in this film?

[Nobody]

I don't think you understand what Im saying HNT. I never said the film was good. I said that the way Siskel and Ebert were using the word Terrible was to say it had a bad influence on people. Like how christians or conservatives say violent video games are terrible because they corrupt kids minds. That is the way they were using the word and when it is used like that, they are just scolding the people who watch it. If you like listening to old farts who think they are film critics and want to tell you that some cartoonish slasher film shouldn't be watched because people get stabbed it it....well thats your choice. Listening to these guys is just as bad as saying Friday the 13th is the most artisitic film ever made.

[HNT]

No it's not as bad. THese guys are saying this movie is dumb and if you like it you are dumb. Then they say anybody who intentionally sells such stupidity to people should be ashamed of themselves. Frankly, they have a point. THey are a little more harsh about it then I woul be, but they aren't wrong. this crap is the equivalent of Britney Spears. Kids love it and most of us recognize how lame it is. That said, I don't really think it is dangerous, but it is not artistically valid and it is a critic's job to point that out

[undeadwillfeast]

First off, this movie and this series are not crap. They are one of the cornerstones of the genre and the most identifiable. If this series was not as successful as it was we wouldn't have some of the better hooror movies of the eighties. The other studios saw how well Paramount was doing with this so they bankrolled some classics. I don't see it as "lame".

[CT]

This clip cracked me up.

I agree with what you're all saying for the most part. I mean a lot of what they said in the clip was true, but if that surprised them, and they didn't expect it all the way, they're idiots. I enjoyed this one the most out of all the Friday movies, however, it's not a "good" movie, and I would never suggest it to someone who wasn't a slasher fan. Them saying it was such a bad influence on teenagers and saying it would give them the wrong impression of the world WAS lame. I mean I think in any movie where someone gets a blade all the way through their face, and survives it's a given that's it's not a realistic view of the world. This film doesn't have much artistic merit, if any, and I wouldn't expect a film critic to give it a good review, but their rant was pretty stupid. They can take those thumbs and shove 'em straight up their asses.

[Nobody]

We have all agreed that this film is not some super artisitic masterpiece. Like CT said. They should have known the film wasn't going to be somthing great. They saw the previews. I personally could care less what they think of a movie. Im not even a fan of the F13 series, but I will call a stupid review when I see one. They should stop being film critics and go join some fundamentalist christian group.

[HNT]

Ok, I figured that I would post a review here that Ebert wrote for THe Devil's Rejects as it clearly indicates that he is not simply some puritanical douchebag who is incapable of praising a film which contains violent themes and copius gore. He clearly enjoyed Devil's REjects because it was a good film. He also loved Last House on the Left and THe Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The fact that he condemned Friday is based more on the studio's cynical marketing approach, which involves making a deliberately bad and derivative film and marketing it directly to young teens (an audience technically too young to be admitted to see the film) rather than creating a decent and challenging film in the exploitation genre. One look at Ebert's own histyory (he wrote the script for Russ MEyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens) indicate that he is no stranger to the exploitation or camp genres. His objection is less to content itself than it is to the use of said content ion the service of what he perceives to be a bad film. Reasonable people can disagree as to what constitutes a bad film as one man's trash is another man's camp treasure. Classifying Roger Ebert as a "fundamentalist" however, is completely unfair. Some of us who love the horror genre also need to loosen up a bit and recognize that we are a pretty select group of folks who like some films that really aren't all that good. It's ok to like them, but you do have to be prepared when teh rest of the world just doesn't get it. In my estimation, tht can be part of the fun

Anyway, the link below:

rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050721/REVIEWS/50712001/1023

[Dr. Butcher M.D.]