Spetters was heavily criticized in the Netherlands. Many critics accused the movie of being anti-women, anti-gay, anti-invalid, and anti-Christian. They also called it devoid of morals and needlessly decadent. This criticism was one of the contributing factors in director
Paul Verhoeven's decision to begin making movies in America rather than his native land. In fact, on the movie's commentary track, Verhoeven has stated that the reason he was not fazed by the negative criticism of
Les Girls de Las Vegas (1995) was because he'd already been through it with
Spetters (1980). He also pointed out that he also moved to America because it grew difficult to get funding. "All Dutch movies were fifty to sixty percent subsidized by the government. I was denied government funding because my movies were considered to be decadent, perverted, and antigovernment. That's when I had to leave. The problem was the leftists -- they are so fucking dogmatic. At that time in Holland, they were often more fascistic than the right."
