Yes, ‘Halloween’ Really Is a Knockoff of ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ (Column)

  • 📰 Variety
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 58 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 26%
  • Publisher: 63%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

Occasionally a critic will write something that gets readers seriously riled. God knows I’ve done it. If I had to list my three greatest hits of outrage, they would probably be my pans of “Pr…

,'” adding, “but let’s leave that topic for another time.” That was meant to be a shorthand quip. I never intended to leave the topic for another time. What I meant is that I had no active desire to explore it, since I’ve already explored it so often. I felt it didn’t need to be belaboredBut oh, what a trigger that sentence turned out to be! The response on Twitter was fast and brutal.

“I think we can all dismiss Owen Gleiberman’s Halloween Kills review as he thinks the original Halloween stole directly from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This following behind a long, sad chain of critics who have no respect for the horror genre.” “Wait. How is the original Halloween a knockoff of TCM?! Had you said Black Christmas, I would’ve been like I can accept that. But TCM?!!!”“What do you expect from a by-the-numbers hack like Gleiberman?”Okay, I will. But first a bit of background. I became a horror fanatic in the ’70s, because I happened to grow up then, but also because that decade was a high-water mark for horror, one that spawned so many of the tropes that rule horror cinema to this day.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” echoed the shock and terror of “Psycho,” but in a wild-ass rural-devil counterculture way. It’s very much a post-’60s movie. “Psycho’s” Marion Crane, with her furtively erotic and sly-eyed scheme of stealing $40,000 so she can get married, is now, in effect, a group of roving kids in a van who act out the license of the sexual revolution, and there’s a Mansonite madness to the whole thing.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

OwenGleiberman Nah. Watch Black Christmas if you're trying to write an article about Halloween being a rip off.

OwenGleiberman

OwenGleiberman Ahem

OwenGleiberman Doubling down on a horrendously bad take is never a good idea. Better to just take that initial L and let it go.

OwenGleiberman The most similar thing about Halloween and TCM is that it they are cheap drive in movies for teenagers that happened to be great as opposed to most of the garbage that was around at the time. Halloween(and F13) have more in common with The Town That Dreaded Sundown

OwenGleiberman Owen, what are you even saying? You don't get how the grungy rural setting and other-ed villain of TCM is a total contrast to the 'evil in your backyard/it could be anyone' slickness of Halloween? The saturation of carnage vs the slow build of dread Oi.

OwenGleiberman Because both wear masks.....Jesus fucking Christ

OwenGleiberman I’ll save you all a lot of time: at the end he finally gets to why it’s a knockoff, and it is as simple as “they both wear masks.” For fucks sake.

OwenGleiberman TCM 'borrows' heavily from Psycho...

OwenGleiberman

OwenGleiberman He is still quite wrong.

OwenGleiberman All this does is point out some of the similarities between the characters of Michael Myers and Leatherface... it doesn't even begin to explain how the film Halloween is a 'rip off' of Chainsaw.

“Stop yelling at me for being wrong! I’m just going to keep being wrong even louder!”

I admit I was triggered by the headline but it's an OK piece. He already acknowledges the arguments ppl raise here (Bay of Blood, stylistic differences etc.) but hones in on the depersonalizing masks & has an interesting take on difference b/w LF and MM as figures of terror.

Your argument is both killers wear a mask?

Read article to be fair. Is still a weird take. A masked killer. Literally the only thing they have in common and that makes Halloween a total rip off? You’re entitled to your opinion of course but… yeah. Nah.

Objectively false. I’d agree with ‘influenced by.’ But masked horror was not new to the 70s. Symbolism w/Myers’ mask is also a key motif, it starts with the viewer seeing through his POV! Both films stand alone as classics.

(Aside from very superficial aspects) No, it really isn’t.

Never write another article in yo life

If you dig deep enough in this turd, there are a few nuggets of insight. Don't know why anyone would want to, though.

Wouldn't it make a LOT more sense to say 'The idea of a killer wearing a mask in a slasher movie was something that Halloween took from TCSM' instead of just broadly saying that the ENTIRE movie is a rip-off?

Except it’s literally not

This was clearly inspired by and written on dangerous psychoactive drugs

Oh go fart in a phone booth

No it’s not! Have a good day.

This is very wrong and dumb

The people calling this bad and dumb aren't reading the article because the argument is bad and dumb. Click bait with zero clicks, how tragic.

Fuck sake.

No

I hate you

Troll, who gives a f*ck?…$50 M opening night😉🖕🏻✌🏻

No, It Empirically Is Not! (Response)

No.

Swing and a miss. 🤦🏻‍♂️

?

No. House of 1000 corpses is. And it’s a shitty one at that. Don’t try to defend a movie where the villains give me a migraine for and hour and showcases Robs Wife poor acting skills

CLICKBAIT bull.

Owen needs the sack ,

No.

No?

no it's not

They have basically the exact same reasons for wearing masks

LOL

Sounds wrong

Halloween is a dumb movie. It has no plot or reason for the action. I don't get what people like as nothing scary happens. The Texas kind of story has loosely happened so at least it has some realism.

yes, variety doesn’t know anything about the movie it is trying to write about. but why bother learning about a movie when you can just publish nonsense? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Felt more like Suspiria to me but whatever

Bro, Texas chainsaw massacre is even a knock off, shut up.

Who decided to write these articles when the new one is killing it at the box office? Makes literally no sense 💀

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 108. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

James McAvoy Just Read A Bunch Of Thirst Tweets About Himself, So Yes, You're WelcomeAnd yes, James McAvoy learns about all of us thirsting over Mr. Tumnus. Love him! Amy_McGhee_ watch the video! It’s so funny 😆 His reactions are the best U HEARD US !!!! WTFFFFF
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

Man Has Never Given Single Definitive Yes To Any Invitation He's Ever ReceivedRICHMOND, VA—As far as coworkers and friends of local resident Jamie Brewster can determine, the 32-year-old paralegal has never once unequivocally accepted any invitation he has received in his entire life. “Whenever we ask him to one of our after-work get-togethers, he always says something like ‘Cool, hopefully… Same hey they sub-articled you Theunwow I am being personally attacked on the internet.
Source: TheOnion - 🏆 724. / 51 Read more »

Yes, 'The Last Duel' is a true story. Here’s what’s historical fact and fictionBen Affleck, Matt Damon, Jodie Comer and Nicole Holofcener break down what's true and what's invented in Ridley Scott's historical epic 'The Last Duel.' Matt Damon in a period piece? No way. Supreme Court denied David Louis Whitehead v Clinton, Bush, Obama et al, case, relating to District Court judge ruled on case presiding Of Counsel with law firm and recused himself after 11 years! Does it have anymore value tied to public corruption?!
Source: latimes - 🏆 11. / 82 Read more »

21 Knockoff Halloween Costumes That Totally, 100%, Definitely Don't Violate Any CopyrightsMario and Luigi who? I only know the Sidekick Bros.
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »

Why Sarah Hyland and Wells Adams Waited Three Months to Have Sex'It was this very long waiting game that was really, really sexy' (via toofab) TooFab TMI TooFab oh TooFab Did we need to know this!!!
Source: TMZ - 🏆 379. / 59 Read more »

Parenting, Baby Names, Celebrities, and Royal News | CafeMom.com
Source: CafeMom - 🏆 701. / 51 Read more »