The Film Roger Ebert Brutally Destroyed as ‘Immoral Trash’
Roger Ebert was known for his strong opinions, but his reaction to the 1984 movie Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was especially intense.
He did not view the film as simple entertainment. Instead, he saw its massive success as a sign of a failing society. At the time, the movie had the biggest opening weekend of the year. This popularity deeply saddened the critic.
He believed the film was dangerous for the young people who flocked to see it. Ebert was worried that teenagers would walk away with a dark and hopeless view of life. In his review, he described the project as an immoral and reprehensible piece of trash. He felt the movie offered nothing but a bleak message that the world is an evil place.
The plot of the movie involves the character Jason Voorhees killing people at a camp after escaping a morgue. Ebert was disgusted by the lack of story or character development. He stated that the movie was nothing more than 90 minutes of teenagers being strangled, stabbed, impaled, chopped up, and mutilated. To him, it was just mindless blood and guts with no artistic value.
While Ebert did enjoy some horror movies, he had a deep hatred for slasher films that focused only on death. He called the high number of ticket sales a very, very depressing commentary on what people enjoyed. He truly feared that this kind of cinema would have a lasting negative impact on the youth of the 1980s.
History shows that the movie did not actually ruin a generation. Most young fans watched the film for a quick scare and then moved on. Only a year later, another sequel was released, and the controversy mostly faded away. Today, the movie is seen as a typical example of 1980s horror rather than a threat to the world.
It is often thought that critics in the past may have overestimated how much influence a single movie could have. While the concern for the well-being of children is understandable, a horror film is usually just a temporary thrill for most viewers. The dark outlook on life that Ebert feared did not seem to take root in the audience. It is clear that his passion for good cinema made him take a slasher film much more seriously than the average teenager did.
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