SHOCK grabs another classic clip of critics Siskel & Ebert reviewing horror films.
“There is a difference between good and scary movies and movies that demean half the human race…”
-Roger Ebert
As part of our ongoing series digging up vintage clips of lamented critics Siskel & Ebert making sport of horror and dark fantasy films on their long-running, now defunct TV series SNEAK PREVIEWS and later, AT THE MOVIES, we look at the time when the duo owned up to their regular thrashing of contemporary horror films, citing in their defense the time they both lauded one of the most popular and pioneering “dead teenager” movies ever made.
That film? John Carpenter’s genre-altering masterwork HALLOWEEN.
Siskel and Ebert were always down on horror and darker films, specifically films that offered cynical and violent wallows in the dark side of man. If you follow this link, you’ll be able to see the myriad times they used genre movies as fodder for snide comedy, holding as they did these pictures in contempt.
But in 1980, on SNEAK PREVIEWS, they addressed the ample mail and feedback they were getting from fright fans who were none too pleased that they were ever-down on horror. The episode in question was dubbed “Women in Danger”, the concept of which saw Gene and Roger specifically spotlight pictures in which females are targeted, tortured, raped and murdered and that – in their estimation – made the audience root for the antagonist and delight in the destruction of their woman victims. Among the films they tsk tsk are DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE, FRIDAY THE 13th and I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE.
But at the climax of the episode, S&E singled out HALLOWEEN. And to be truthful, though time has proven that they weren’t as savvy as they thought when analyzing the genre, they’re rather bang-on with HALLOWEEN.
Have a look…
