Internet Janitor
While the general public may not be aware of this film, many horror genre fans hold it close to their hearts. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is like a behind-the-scenes look at what makes a serial killer like Jason, Michael, or Freddy tick. They are discussed with reverence by Leslie, who hopes to achieve their level of infamy one day. For they believe they provide a vital service to humanity. A counterbalance. The makers’ love for the genre is outstanding. Is the story of what’s really going on obvious? Sure, to some people. To horror fans, we’re the ones sitting on Leslie Vernon’s shoulders along for the ride. We know what’s coming.
Our tale begins with Taylor (played by Angela Goethals from Home Alone and Jerry Macquire), a student journalist with poor survival instincts who undertakes a documentary on the next great serial killer. She meets up with Leslie Vernon (played by Nathan Baesel in his feature film debut), who tells her the legend of when the townsfolk threw him over the falls and why, so many years later, he’s coming back for revenge. Vernon will take them through his process, give them a behind-the-scenes look at what makes people like him tick.
This is the last movie for legendary actress Zelda Rubinstein, who plays the librarian. She is best known for her role in the three Poltergeist films. The doctor, inspired by Dr. Loomis from Halloween, is played by the great Robert Englund, known for playing Freddy. We even get a brief cameo from Kane Hodder, who played Jason Vorhees in numerous Friday the 13th films.
The movie is ripe with tropes, on purpose. Slasher films have rarely been deep films and can often be summed up with over sexed teenagers being killed for their misdeeds. If you’re new to slasher or horror in general, this is a fun classic, not terribly bloody. I cannot explain how badly I wanted an immediate follow-up. Year by year went by, and I couldn’t understand, but looking back, I think it did the film a credit. There was no watering down, and I think, as stated above, the pending sequel decades later is now exciting, but it has a lot to live up to.
Nathan Baesel is the glue that holds the feature together. He’s so earnest, so open (for reasons our reporters are deeply clueless about) with the lore and how things are done. The second-best performance is that of his friend, a retired killer named Eugene (played by Scott Wilson from The Walking Dead) and his batshit crazy wife. They’re so happy, so bubbly, so over the top in your face sugary, it’s very uncomfortable. Perfection.
It flows so well that I sat down to watch only part of it as it was late, and without even noticing, I blazed through it all.
So I’ll leave you with this.
Keep running. Don’t look back. Never. Ever. Look back. Because you won’t like what you see.