Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
In honor of the DVD release of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, we’re giving you two, that’s right, TWO unique takes on the film!
It’s a two-fer Thursday!
Not surprisingly, both highly recommend this gem!
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Review #1 by the Fiend of Grue
Have you ever sat back and wondered just how in the world that no matter how fast some helpless big chested teen runs, Jason Voorhees always manages to be right on her tail? Or have you ever thought it was strange how Michael Myers could be 50 yards behind someone and they turn the corner, and there he is? Perhaps they have kept up on a strict cardio regimen like Leslie Vernon so that way they are always one step ahead of their prey.
Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel) is the soon to be the psycho slasher of the new movie Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon. A college documentary crew has asked Leslie if they can talk to him about what it takes to become an infamous psycho slasher. They soon realize that Leslie cannot just tell them, he must show them one on one. We watch Leslie as he hits a punching bag explaining, “You have no idea how much cardio I have to do. You’ve got to be able to run like a friggin gazelle. Plus, there’s that whole thing of making it look like your walking while everyone else is running. It’s tough!” Next we see Leslie take the crew to a high school where from a distance, we observe teens mingling about. Leslie explains how it’s not only about picking out a perfect female, but also finding one that’s got a strong supporting cast. It has to be the perfect mix of teens before you can pick. Leslie also tells them that he’s already got his girl picked out, he’s just doing this to show them how the process is done.
He then takes them to his supposed childhood home, a place that, each year, on the night of his “death,” the local kids dare each other to spend the night in the house. This year, he says, he’s going to reappear. The excitement in Leslie’s voice is almost uncontainable as he then introduces the film crew to a friend, he calls him an “old pro.” His name is Gene, played by the always fabulous Scott Wilson. Gene is a retired psycho slasher that sliced and diced his way through the 60’s and 70’s. He explains how things were much easier to do then and didn’t take as much planning as it does today. “Guys like Jay, Mike and Fred took it to a whole other level” Gene explains. You see, because in the world of Behind The Mask, Jason, Michael and Freddy are not the fictitious villains of celluloid, but they are real killers.
We see Leslie’s plan continue to come together. He meticulously plots and plans for every scenario and situation. With how well he has strategized, he will know where every person is at every minute, while making his murderous fantasy come to life. The deeper the documentary crew gets into the world of Leslie Vernon, the more uncomfortable they become until they finally realize that this guy is for real and is going to really kill these people. Should they continue on for the sake of art, or should they risk their own lives to stop a madman dead in his tracks?
Behind The Mask is a complete new take on the slasher subgenre of horror. It doesn’t break any new ground with the victims or the situations that they are in, but it does tell its story in a totally new light. With this movie we see behind the scenes of how it’s all planned and executed, partly through the look of a documentary movie and partly through the look of a regular movie. We see the monster becoming the monster in completely new and voyeuristic ways that we’ve never seen before. This movie is sure to make you look at the 80’s icons in a new way.
The acting was great, except for just a few smalls scenes that didn’t come off to well. A few parts were needlessly overacted, but only a select few. Nathan Baesel plays the part of Leslie Vernon very well and believable. At time, Baesel almost resembles Jim Carrey in some of the facial expressions and his reactions to certain things. He plays Leslie as a man on the outer fringes of sanity, and while there is no question that he is a couple of cards short of a full deck, he still has a naturally humorous side to him that you’ll find yourself feeling guilty for liking. It’s interesting how when he puts on the mask, he becomes the killer. Gone are the funny ways of his human side and awakened are the demons of a killer…he BECOMES Leslie Vernon. Robert England plays a relatively small part of Dr. Halloran (the name being a homage to The Shining) who is a very Dr. Loomis type of character. Dr. Halloran is the doctor who warns people of Leslie and would sacrifice it all to stop him. Zelda Rubensein, most known for her role as the medium in Poltergeist gives a cameo as the school librarian who tells the legend of Leslie Vernon. Even Kane Hodder has a very brief, but great, appearance.
Behind The Mask is a lot like Scream in that it dissects the horror movie, more specifically the slasher subgenre, explaining the mechanics of how it works and the do’s and don’ts of the killer…BUT despite the film’s self referential and humorous slant, it never pokes fun at the genre like Scream did but rather respects it and pays homage to it. That is the only comparison to Scream though, because Behind The Mask stands on its own.
It’s also worth mentioning that there is not much blood in this movie either. It’s probably equal to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Halloween, but also like those movies, it doesn’t need to rely on gore and blood to be really good, the story is strong enough without all of that. The R rating, if you’re wondering, mostly comes from the language and one nude shot.
If I had to guess, I’d say the horror community will be fairly split down the middle on this movie. There will be many that like it and appreciate it’s ambitiously fresh take on the slasher film and there will be others who will probably think the comedy takes away from it and the movie is just plain rubbish. I fully expect this to be a love/hate type of modern day horror film, with really no middle ground to tread.
I had to watch this movie twice before I could fully grasp it and come to a conclusion on how I felt about it to be able to write this review, but I’m definitely going to have to side with those who love it. It was fresh, it was original and it was without question a smart horror film. This is a horror film that I think I’ll love for many years to come and would highly recommend that you check it out.
A pointer: Make sure you watch the whole movie through all of the credits for the not-so-surprising, but still good, full ending.
Review #2 by Siko Mike
The slasher genre really picked up in the late 70’s with Halloween and went strong on through the 80’s with classics such as Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Prom Night, Terror Train and so on. In the 90’s, Scream brought the slasher film back along with movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend. The 2000s have basically been cheap ripoffs or remakes until now.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon tells the story about a young guy named Leslie who was supposedly killed by his entire hometown…but Leslie never died. Now he is back for revenge and has taken some notes on horror icons such as Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Kruegar along with an old fashioned killer named Eugene. A documentary film crew has offered to tell his story and how he plans to slaughter and stalk the unexpected teens who dare to party in his old farmhouse.
The film starts off as Leslie explains how a psycho slasher thinks and how he chooses his victims. Vernon takes the film crew around to where he plans to strike each teenager. When the real killing goes down, the film crew begins to freak out and try to stop Leslie but little do they know that they have just become some extra victims on Leslie’s hit list.
I was blown away at how smart and clever this film was and how much it delivered. Behind the Mask basically reveals all of the methods that a slasher takes before making the kill. Leslie Vernon has become the next great slasher in this modern day film. This film also takes notice of many horror favorites like Halloween, Friday the 13th and even Child’s Play. You might also recognize two horror icons such as Robert Englund as Vernon’s psychiatrist and the lady from Poltergeist as the libriarian.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon delivers the goods and the rules of old school slasher films and gives a lot of respect towards them. Director Scott Glosserman definitely has a great career ahead of him with this classic in the making! I definitely recommend this film to any slasher fan or horror fan for that matter. Definitely worth a watch!
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