Why The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is the perfect Halloween movie

Writer-director Julia Ducournau's recent — and retina-searingly unforgettable — film Raw related the transformation of a veterinary student from seemingly prim vegetarian to lusty cannibal. So maybe it isn't the biggest shock that Ducournau's Halloween viewing recommendation is another tale about people eating people: the late Tobe Hooper's horror classic, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

"For me, Halloween is Texas Chain Saw Massacre," says the filmmaker. "If you want to get scared, you can't make better than this. Oh my God. This movie has a Z-serious title, but it is one of the deepest movies in the genre that has ever been made. This is incredibly smart, incredibly political, the cinematography is amazing. And, it's incredibly amoral, you know? It's not like you have the good guys and the bad guys. The victims are big a–holes as well. When they die, you're actually happy, because they are huge a–holes. Especially the one that's in the wheelchair, which is even more ironic, because you want to root for him, because he can't get away, he's in a wheelchair, but he's such an a–hole. It is so amoral. It is really really smartly done. And it's a physical experience, there is no denial about that. It's a real work of art."

You can watch the trailer for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre above and the one for Raw, below.

Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, upcoming anthology Nightmare Cinema) will host a screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as part of Beyond Fest at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 3. The most recent film in the TCM franchise, the prequel Leatherface, is now available to watch on DirecTV on Sept. 21 and will be released by Lionsgate in theaters and on demand, Oct. 20. Raw is available to buy on DVD.