Best "King of the Slashers" Movie

[1godzillafan]

Tis Octember, which means Halloween is upon us. I thought I'd do a poll seeing how the horror market is dominated by slashers (or at least used to, now it's poor Asian horror remakes), I thought I'd poll to see which of the five debut chapters of the five undisputed kings (Leatherface, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees*, Freddy Krueger, and Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray) was the most popular.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Halloween (1978)
Friday the 13th (1980)*
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Child's Play (1988)

I have to give this one to Halloween. Just one hell of a perfect horror movie that is hard to top. After that, I'd go with the pure entertainment of Child's Play...then probably TCM and NOES, with F13 in dead last.

* Yes, I realize, Jason wasn't the killer in Friday 1, but it was the start of his series. Not to mention he was a presence that related directly to all the murders in that movie. Plus, it's a better choice than Part 2.

[eSJayBee]

meh...this was a bit tough. I hadn't seen a couple of them. I suppose I'll have to go with "Halloween". It seemed more scary since it felt more realistic (before the sequels went "out there"). Maybe I'd have to sit down and watch all these movies one after the other to properly decide. But for now, my vote goes to Halloween.

[1godzillafan]

meh...this was a bit tough. I hadn't seen a couple of them. I suppose I'll have to go with "Halloween". It seemed more scary since it felt more realistic (before the sequels went "out there"). Maybe I'd have to sit down and watch all these movies one after the other to properly decide. But for now, my vote goes to Halloween.

I think they're all worth at least a viewing (Friday the 13th being arguable) seeing how strong the impact they all made on horror (Child's Play being arguable).

Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a dark, grimy, dirty, gritty, and raw film. It gets it's props mostly because that it was one of the first truly hardcore horror films (despite it's lack of gore, the subject itself is very hardcore). I honestly think it does get somewhat of a bore at times (I prefer the nutty, extremly dark comedy route of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), but the film itself is a very good indie. I'd give it ***. Remake wasn't bad, either. I'd give it about the same rating.

I don't think I've kept it a secret that I think Halloween is just an outstanding film all around. The simple storyline is gripping, and while the teenage acting is spotty at best, Donald Pleasance more than makes up for it. A solid ****.

Friday the 13th is one of first all-out gore fests (probably co-created this type of horror flick with Dawn of the Dead). I think Mike Nelson put it best, it was revolutionary as the first to say "no plot, let's just kill people." Unfortunatly, that doesn't make it much of a movie, so it gets a 0.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a beautifully surreal film. I adore the way Wes Craven made this movie. However, I think the surrealness did give the plot a few gaping holes that couldn't be filled and the acting is probably the worst of any of the films up there (well, maybe Robert England alone would make it better acting than Friday the 13th). It's hard to give this film ** 1/2 considering how hard it tries to work, but I just can't go any higher.

Child's Play. The only way I can describe it is in the language of internet fanboy. So.... chuky is the ROX!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 1 u dont lik him usuck *** 1/2

[Amirius]

I'm gonna go with Halloween if only because Micheal Myers is one of my favorite Horror movie characters.

[Dew k. Mosi]

Freddy, man, Freddy. He was the scariest to me because damn, not even SLEEPING was safe! Plus we watched it with this family friend who had scary long nails and she grabbed my leg right when Freddy was attacking and I thought it was knives and I jumped and ran away and hid under the bed and cried and cried and cried.

That was just last week too :(