31 by 31 Challenge #23: BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON (2006)

Made on little more than pennies, released into the festival circuit, and then relegated to direct-to-DVD obscurity, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is arguably the peak definition of the twenty-first-century cult film. Nothing about the film should work, first and foremost its ludicrous premise, and yet somehow it manages to bring all its disparate parts together and create a brilliant, meta-horror funfest the likes of which you won't find anywhere else.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Released: March 12, 2006
Director: Scott Glosserman
Screenplay: Scott Glosserman & David J. Stieve

Tagline: "Freddy. Jason. Michael. We all need someone to look up to"

Cast:
Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon/Mancuso
Angela Goethals as Taylor Gentry
Robert Englund as Doc Halloran
Kate Lang Johnson as Kelly
Scott Wilson as Eugene/Billy
Ben Pace as Doug
Britain Spellings as Todd


In a world where Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Norman Bates, and all the other great slashers of horror cinema were very real serial killers, three college students are working on their thesis for their film majors: a documentary following Leslie Vernon, a gleeful, gushing gore fan who hopes to follow in the footsteps of the famous killers he worships. Leslie is a killer-in-training, and he has meticulous plans to debut himself as a mass murderer by picking off a group of teenagers, facing down a virginal Final Girl, and then dying at her hands in a climactic showdown. Told mostly in mockumentary/found footage style, the film shifts to the traditional third-person presentation when it's necessary for the viewer to see Leslie's plans play out. This setup comes in handy during the third act, when a swerve in the narrative sends everyone, viewer and characters alike, scrambling for the truth.

Through its structure, Behind the Mask is taking on one of the oldest conventions of the slasher sub-genre, the killer's viewpoint, but it's doing it in a way that is significantly different from other meta-horror films like New Nightmare (1994), Scream (1996), and The Cabin in the Woods (2012); Mask isn't concerned as much with the archness of its own meta-textuality like those other films. Instead, it's a film that acknowledges the conventions of the slasher in a giddy, embracing manner rather than the detached, almost cruel, exploration seen in its sister films. This can be attributed to lead actor Nathan Baesel, who perfectly channels the gleeful nerd that floods cons and obsesses over his craft. It's easy to forget that Leslie's goal is to murder innocent teenagers when he's so passionately explaining his weaponology or glowing over the kill history of his predecessors.

As Taylor and her crew explore Leslie, his psyche, and his plan, the film raises questions of theoretical violence and exploitation, and what part each of those plays in escapism. After all, the slasher genre is one that exists on the premise of watching human stand-ins get slaughtered, sliced, and butchered, and at a conceptual level, there's something quite disturbing about that realization. Yet Mask never turns up its nose at the viewer but offers a safe space for us to get lost in the appeal of the slasher and face the nasty implications of the genre head-on at the same time. An adept script helps elevate several moments of excellent dark comedy that stick in the bones once the story is completed in a way that no jump scare could ever hope to achieve.

Though not quite as famous as its meta-horror counterparts, and perhaps not as ambitious either, Behind the Mask is still a sharp, focused film that is true to his guns from start to finish. It balances thoughtfulness and macabre comedy and churns out a bloodbath that any of Leslie's icons would be proud to call their own. It's a peculiar, fascinating film that tries to explain a peculiar, fascinating world that many of us call home. A world born of monsters.


Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
5 - Totally Terrifying
4 - Crazy Creepy
3 - Fairly Frightening
2 - Slightly Scary
1 - Hardly Horror