Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Year: 2006
Director: Scott Glosserman
Starring: Nathan Baesel, Robert Englund, Angela Goethals and Kate Lang Johnson

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon takes the typical and cliché horror film slasher flick and flips it upside down. It has all the right ingredients that your normal run of the mill "scary" movie has but then adds it's own special ingredient.

If you haven't heard of this movie I do urge you to go out and rent it or Netflix it, especially if you are a fan of the genre as it will take you by surprise. Without giving too much away I will give a brief summary to peak some interest. First off it is filmed in mockumentary style which is a style that has grown in popularity recently with the rise of the Paranormal Activity franchise although probably popularized by The Blair Witch Project in 1999. I do quite like this filmography style for this genre as it gives a more realistic setting. Anyways, so the story is this group of grad school film students (I assume) are doing a documentary on this man named Leslie Vernon who is publicly planning to scare a group of unknowing teenagers. However, it turns out he is really planning on killing them all.

This movie actively embraces any horror film clichés and stereotypes that exist and formulates them until they are actually the lifeblood of this movie. I mean right off the back the great slasher films like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees of their respective series exist in real life in this universe. Also, the character of Leslie Vernon literally explains in detail (and quite humorously) every known cliché and why they do what they do. Really gives an interesting and unique look a la "Behind the Mask" that I now find myself analyzing every other horror film I watch now.

So if you consider yourself a fan of the genre you would be doing yourself a disservice by not watching this film as it essentially is everything you know and love rolled into one.

Score: B