Molecule-frame photoelectron angular distributions are reported for the A band photoionization of CH3Cl and CH3F molecules whose spatial orientation is effectively fixed using an electron-ion recoil vector correlation technique. Measurements are made at various photon wavelengths with the polarization set both perpendicular and parallel to the molecular axis. Subsidiary measurements on the lab-frame distributions of photoelectrons and photofragment ions are also presented. An extensive comparison is made with the results of a multiple scattering calculation of the photoionization dynamics and a convincing description of the data is obtained. Scattering influences arising in the photon-electron and electron-ion core interactions can be distinguished as the polarization geometry and identity of the halogen atoms is varied.