...emblematic of the cultural sect being catalogued...

| Nov 9, 2023

The Decline of Western Civilization is a punk document not just because it chronicles punk bands, but because it’s made in line with that famous punk ethos: the mainstream sucks, do it yourself

| Apr 16, 2023

The film's style is as brutal, stripped-down and purposefully devoid of frills as the music of its subjects.

| May 8, 2021

Spheeris' treatment goes out of its way to present a broad look at the subject that avoids easy generalizations in either direction.

| May 8, 2021

Miss Spheeris has captured some harrowing and hilarious images with her camera and she shows a natural film maker's instinct for editing, particularly in the way she crosscuts interview footage for humorous effect.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 24, 2021

What emerges is remarkable - not only a gripping documentary, but one of the funniest movies of the year.

| Mar 24, 2021

The Decline of Western Civilization is a crisply-edited, well-crafted documentary film which explores something which is often a topic of conversation, and also, that few people know much about.

| Mar 24, 2021

[Penelope Spheeris] never preaches (the film has no narration; no pious experts are consulted; it's pure testimony) and her message is the louder for it.

| Mar 23, 2021

Spheeris's film does have Its funny moments.

| Mar 23, 2021

The musicians and their fans are both amusing and pathetic.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 23, 2021

Penelope Spheeris' aptly and ironically titled documentary... is a disturbing, often hilarious, strangely exhilarating look at the punk rock scene in Los Angeles as it was during the first six months of 1980.

| Mar 23, 2021

Producer and director Penelope Spheeris... lets the bands and fans speak for themselves; and it is their message, rather than the music, that makes "Decline" so fascinating.

| Mar 23, 2021

A primer on punk rock... Marvelous.

| Mar 23, 2021

It's a stunner.

| Mar 23, 2021

I enjoyed the movie, but then, was luckier than most I got to see it with the volume turned way down.

| Mar 23, 2021

It is to director-producer Spheeris' credit that even the uninitiated or antipathetic will be occasionally informed by what they see, and always entertained.

| Mar 23, 2021

Though the performances are riveting and some of the music quite powerful, the most mesmerizing aspect of "The Decline of Western Civilization" are the off-stage interviews. Spheeris gets these punk people to open up.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 23, 2021

It is among the most powerful awesome, frightening, fascinating, astonishing films I have ever seen and ranks as an unsurpassed social and musical documentary.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 23, 2021

The only flaw is the over all length, which is a little too much But I can't imagine removing any of it.

| Mar 23, 2021

[The Decline of Western Civilization] accomplishes all that a documentary is ideally supposed to - and more.

| Mar 23, 2021