Review: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
I’m a bit over post-modernism in movies lately, I say commit to the cliche wholeheartedly or discard it, but Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is an appealing sleeper. For one, the film is actually funny, and for two, it doesn’t have the superiority that has become suffocating in certain films, particularly in the horror genre.
Vernon follows a film crew as they follow Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel), an amusingly well spoken and good looking guy in his upper twenties, who aspires to be the next great serial killer in the tradition of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, who actually exist in the world of this film. The particulars aren’t lingered on, but it would seem, until the end at least, that there is nothing supernatural about these killing machines, they just have a flair for showbiz, and actually benefit society by acting as manifestations of our anxiety (you know, what every shrink says about horror movies.)
Vernon is an ambitious man, and we watch as he does cardio (useful for keeping up with the victims while seemingly never breaking into a run) and searches for just the right group to stalk to ensure that his legacy will continue. Leslie Vernon had me the moment the great character actor Scott Wilson popped in as a mentor, and it certainly kept me when Robert Englund appears as a Loomis (Halloween, not Psycho, though you can be forgiven for some confusion) like character intent on stopping Vernon. Vernon himself couldn’t be happier, because you see, he’s found his “Ahab.”
You’re either going to go for this sort of thing or you’re not. Leslie Vernon is charming and well executed, and Baesel exudes considerable charisma as the lead. The film is clever, and never really bores until it becomes an actual slasher movie (and its still much better than the norm.) There is definitely a bit of the “short film inflated to feature length” vibe, but the movie’s lack of pretension makes it damn near impossible to dislike. The director here is Scott Glosserman, and I imagine that we will see him again.
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