Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween?

Recently watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I think I preferred Halloween. Texas Chainsaw Massacre does not get off to a good start. The slow burn part does not work for me at all, none of the actors are good and I didn't think it was that atmospheric. But when the horror sequences start later it gets good and I also found it very darkly funny. The stuff with "Grandpa" just killed me .

Halloween has the legendary opening, might be the best horror sequence of all time. The rest of the movie is not on that level but it's still alright and Curtis anchors the movie with an engaging performance and the whole thing just feels spooky.

As I was writing this it occurred to me that the structure of the movies are opposites, Halloween has the great opening and TCM has the great climax. I think Halloween's high point is higher and then the rest of the movie is better too. But they are pretty close, I have them both at a 7/10. Horror is not my favorite genre at all but they are both among the best.

As for influence, I think I might say Halloween too. It really is what established the slasher formula that was so blatantly copied by Friday the 13th and a whole range of other things in the 80's. Texas Chainsaw Massacre has kind of a different feel and a different structure, it's a group instead of one killer, a lot of them talk and they are all characterized in some ways as opposed to the Michael Myers/Jason type faceless killers.

Not a fan of horror films but these two are legendary.

I prefer Halloween.

I love Halloween. That score is glorious, Michael Myers is an icon, that opening shot is a work of art, and Donald Pleasence sells the whole thing like a motherfucker.

Still, Texas Chainsaw all the way for me, here 40+ years after they were both made and with all the sequels and remakes and what not that movie still looks and feels unique, where as so much of Halloween aside from the aforementioned high spots looks and feels run of the mill.

Halloween might be the ultimate, go to, prototype for the modern slasher movie, taking to the next level a template that very few have come close to matching in the years since, but Texas Chainsaw Massacre is like the greatest Nam movie ever made, Marilyn Burns wails through that whole final act are still fucking viscerally unreal, and Gunnar Hansen's performance, like that scene where he desperately searches around the house, whimpering, wondering if any more of these pesky vermin are hiding anywhere, it's just beautiful.

Lastly, while it's final shot might not quite match the technique of Halloween's opening one, it too is a thing of glorious beauty.

I think I might say the opposite, actually. The opening for Halloween just hits much harder in a real life way than anything in TCM for me. Both due to forcing the audience to identify with the killer and the big reveal that it's a kid, which might hit closer to home today with some of the violence we've seen perpetrated by very young boys. Maybe I'm a sociopath but I was laughing all through the end of TCM, particularly in the dinner scene and Grandpa dropping the hammer over and over again. When Grandpa moved for the first time I jumped but then just started laughing because it was so silly. Halloween is certainly silly too, but it still has that opening which could have been a great short film all on its own. 

Halloween is good and all, but I'm not sure it's even a Top 3 Carpenter, let alone on the level of something like Texas Chainsaw, which is pretty much perfect filmmaking. Hooper's understanding of horror itself is close to unparalleled, and he put out one of the most effectively thought-provoking and viscerally upsetting films in the genre with this one, reducing us to little more than frightened animals.