I rented and watched this one saturday afternoon (along with Freddy's Dead) in 1993. At that point, I was going through every well known series I could find. Most of what I rented back then was from the 70's and 80's, and while most of them kicked ass, I can't say I was ever all that scared by anything. The Shining and Children Of The Corn were pretty scary. But when I watched the original TCM, damn! Now, THAT's scary! And I don't mean I simply appreciated that it was an effective horror film like now. I mean it actually scared me. And to be scared by it on a sunny saturday afternoon, as opposed to nightime, is pretty cool. However, the original vhs version made it so much better. A few years later, I bought it on some remastered version, which had removed the dark graininess along with a portion of the creepiness, which was disappointing. I never saw that perfect original version again, and no rewatch ever compared to the one on that saturday afternoon. Although I feel like this is one of those movies that might not be a great rewatch ether way.

I loved the second one too, and have always appreciated the fact that they didn't try to compete with the original and just let it be good it its own way. Tobe Hooper seemed to know exactly what people wanted in 1986 every bit as much as he did in 1973.

I rented the third one not long after, and probably liked it more than I do now, but found it annoying and confusing at the same time. Possibly the first sequel I ever saw which went out of its way to ignore a past sequel. Still not entirely sure who the fuck any of these people are or if the Leatherface in this is THE leatherface. The movie certainly had potential.

Much like Hallloween, TCM came off like it was meant to be a stand alone film. I feel like it would be creepier if some of these movies had been left alone and not milked dry several times over.

The first TCM I saw was actually the remake when I was 16. It was the first horror dvd I bought, and I loved it so much, I sought out the original and watched it... on MySpace. I found the remake a creepier film, but as I continued to rewatch the original, my fondness continued to grow, and now I recognize it as one of the greatest, most eerie films ever. There's nothing quite like it.