Tag Archives: gene siskel

That Time Roger Ebert Said ‘Phantasm’ Was A Mess (1979)

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Not sure if you’ve ever heard of the movie Phantasm, but chances are you have.  And chances are that you liked it more than both Siskel & Ebert did back in 1979.  Ah yes, one of my favorite pastimes:  Looking up old Siskel & Ebert horror movie reviews on Youtube. And given that this year is the 40th Anniversary of Phantasm, I figured I’d snoop around and see if these two jokesters ever did a review when it originally came out.  And, they did!  Check it below:

Ok, ok.  We get it.  You didn’t like the ‘weird little stainless steel ball‘, Roger Ebert.  And Siskel’s snickering during Ebert’s rant only irked me more.  They did both enjoy the severed finger though, so there’s that.  I never did take their horror movie reviews seriously, but this one made me chuckle due to their obvious disdain for the ‘lack of explantation’ of anything in Phantasm.  Rule #1 for watching Phantasm:  Don’t take it seriously!  Just sit back, enjoy the visuals, enjoy the score, enjoy Angus Scrimm, and enjoy this song:

Let’s Listen To A Giddy Gene Siskel Talk About ‘Carnosaur’ (1993)

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I’ve written about their show before, but one of my favorite memories of growing up was watching Siskel & Ebert every week to see if they were going to review any horror movies.  And nothing is more of trip than when they reviewed Roger Corman’s Carnosaur back in 1993.  I can’t do the clip any justice, but I will say that one of the highlights is Roger Ebert emphasizing that he thinks Stephen Spielberg will do a better job with the look of his dinosaurs in his upcoming movie (which of course was Jurassic Park).  And also Gene Siskel gleefully discussing and pleading his case for how good the plot was for the movie.  Just do yourself a favor and watch below, please 🙂