Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

One of the things that sets horror apart from most of the other genres is the huge amount of DTV horror movies. More than any other genre, horror seems to generate a ton of movies that have no theatrical release whatsoever, or such a small one that it might as well never have happened. And, you know, most of the time, that's entirely warranted. But every once in a while, you get a DTV gem. Lucky McKee's May is a great example, and I recently defended My Little Eye, which I thought was a lot more interesting than its lack-of-reputation would imply.

So here, folks, is one of the next great DTV horror movies: a funny, clever, smart, and vastly entertaining film called Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.

For the curious: Here's a pretty solid teaser trailer. The full trailer, on the other hand...I feel like it's a little spoilerish. Not too bad, but still, you might avoid it for the most fun watching this. Still, if you want to see it, click here.

I got interested in seeing this after reading the AV Club's pretty strong review for it. It sounded a lot more fun and interesting than the usual horror dreck we are getting so often these days.

Behind the Mask can pretty easily be divided into three acts. The first two acts (about the first hour of the film) revolves around a documentary crew who is following around the next great slasher killer in his preparations for his big debut. Imagine the camera crew from Man Bites Dog following around Michael Myers before Halloween began, and you'll have a good feel for this.

There are a lot of great things about this movie, but you can't go far without first talking about Nathan Baesel, who plays Leslie. Baesel manages a difficult feat--juggling a quick wit and a good sense of humor with the possibility of being a truly threatening villain. By the third act, which becomes the horror film the first hour sets us up for, Baesel completely becomes that villain, and does it well. If there's a flaw in his performance, it's that he's hidden behind a mask; it would have been a bit more fun to see him playing the killer role. He's definitely capable of it, though; there's a scene about a half hour in in which Leslie's true nature comes through for just a split second, and it's almost as shocking as anything I've seen in a long time in a horror movie.

The mask, though, brings me to one of the great pleasures of this movie: this is made by slasher fans, for slasher fans. The references pile up in every shot and every scene. Robert Englund plays a major role. Eugene, Leslie's neighbor and a retired slasher, is played by Scott Wilson, of In Cold Blood fame--not a pure slasher, but the reference is nice. So are the endless visual reminders, from a Hitchcock silhouette to a Hellraiser cube to references, from the line "I went to Texas to help a friend of mine re-invent himself" to a quick cameo of someone quite notable in the genre darting into his house. The references are clever, but they don't overwhelm or stop the story; they're just there for you to notice and enjoy.

But it's the writing, particularly of Leslie's preparations, that really make the movie a joy for horror fans. Ever wonder why the power always seems to go out, or how those doors move when your back is turned? Leslie reveals all the tricks of the trade, and the nods to every slasher film are smart, funny, and clever. Rather than the lengthy exposition of Scream, the cliches and staples of the slasher film are worked in, acknowledged, and played with. The humor isn't just "ha ha, I recognize that"; there's actual humor worked into the scenes. There's a great deleted scene explaining how Leslie always manages to track running people while always walking. Through and through, the affection for the genre comes through, even as the jokes and references pile up.

What really pushes Behind the Mask above movies like Scream, though, is the academic and psychological insight. Scream and its ilk were knowledgeable, but only about the movies themselves. Leslie, in contrast, doesn't just know about the "how", but the "why", orating about "survivor girls", phallic imagery, birth canal imagery, sexual dynamics, and more. It's well versed in the critical theories of the genre, but it works them in seamlessly, playing with the voyeur gaze and even the idea that horror filmmakers and audiences share some of the guilt in the killings. (The screenplay, which is on the DVD in PDF format, carries this idea further; the original film contained a long courtroom scene in which the documentarians were charged with being accessories to murder.)

Then, though, there's the third act. The horror movie Leslie has been setting up for the whole time comes into play. Our documentarians put aside their cameras and plunge themselves into the film...and it's definitely the weakest part of Behind the Mask. Maybe it's that I've seen too many slasher films, and none of them do much for me; maybe I was just sad to see all the humor and quick wit of the first hour fade in the slasher film section. It's not that it's done badly, or that it's entirely serious. There are a pair of plot twists that are pretty fun; the second one is a bit obvious, but the first revelation...well, the reveal is absolutely hilarious. But in general, I don't feel like the slasher film section measures up to the first hour. Maybe it's just because I've seen it all done before, or maybe it's the fact that we spent an hour dissecting the genre; what's the fun of seeing the show if you know all the tricks? It's just a bit like Adaptation; you know WHY it ends that way, but it can't live up to the rest of the film. That's the point, though, isn't it?

That being said, I don't think I can hold an average--not bad, just not great--last half hour against Behind the Mask, especially given how strong the rest of the film is, and how clearly they really wanted to pay homage to the slasher film. The ending is pretty satisfying, even if it's the rare horror film that I would love to see a sequel to. Then again, there's that sequence during the credits...you'll know where it's going as soon as it starts. I did. (There's a deleted scene with Eugene that the director says he thought about putting under the credits; I wish he had. It would have achieved the same purpose, and it's a great scene.)

Anyways, flaws and all, Behind the Mask is so, so much better than an unceremonious DTV dumping would tell you. It's funny, clever, a bit scary in parts, and while it may become just a slasher film for the last section...hey, that's what it NEEDS to do.

If you're a slasher fan, a horror fan, or just want something a bit differerent, check this out. It's still on the new release walls, and it's well worth the hour and a half.