Two years ago, CHUD.com’s Devin Faraci wrote a glowing review of BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON. [
It’s right here.] I banked the positive review, but I didn’t rent the movie because I’m just not a fan of the slasher genre. Last week, I saw the disk on the shelf at the local library. The price was right, and I remembered that excellent review. “Perhaps,” I thought, “this will be the one slasher movie I actually like.”
I loved it.
BEHIND THE MASK follows a team of young documentary filmmakers as they take on the subject of one Leslie Vernon, a bright and charismatic young man who aspires to join the greats of the “creative slaughter” world. In the film’s universe, Freddy and Jason and Michael are real people who, through preparation, determination, and talent, have emerged as superstars. Leslie’s just getting started, but he has all the tools: a spooky backstory, a strong work ethic, an eye for detail, and a wickedly sharp set of gardening tools.
The movie works because it so thoroughly understands and embraces the conventions of the slasher genre that the documentary footage detailing Leslie’s preparation for the big night (putting dead batteries the Target House’s flashlights, choosing the proper Survivor Girl) feels real. Further, the boyish enthusiasm of the industrious Leslie contrasts to great (deadpan) comic effect with the growing moral uncertainty of the documentarians, leaving us cheering at Leslie’s small victories while questioning our own championing of murder. When the film switches from documentary to third-person slasher in the third act, the transition feels organic and fun. We see how Leslie’s preparation has paid off, in everything from the creepiness of his mask and makeup to the strategic placement of bodies. Even so, we still feel the quickening of fear, and we shudder along with the victims.
BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON is so innovative, so enthusiastic, so fun that it makes me want to revisit the slasher genre. How bad can TERROR TRAIN really be?
