Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

November 7, 2021 11:11 AM

The next great psycho horror slasher has given a documentary crew exclusive access to his life as he plans his reign of terror over the sleepy town of Glen Echo.

Currently streaming in the US on Shudder. 76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

posted by DirtyOldTown (9 comments total)

How have we never posted this before? A real gem: a smartass Spinal Tap for horror slashers that somehow manages to become a roaring slasher itself in the last act.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:12 AM on November 7, 2021 [2 favorites]

I think it got passed over because the movie came out before Fanfare did? It's a favorite of mine. Recently, a few friends of mine saw it for the first time through Shudder and loved it. It really does stick the ending.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:59 AM on November 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

One of my favorite jokes is "Paradise Lost...FOUND IT" It's so simply and silly but I laugh every time.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:59 AM on November 8, 2021

I feel bad for comparing this to Spinal Tap. This is really more like Man Bites Dog, but with a movie slasher instead of a hitman.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:49 PM on November 8, 2021

i think this is the reverse of Man Bites Dog. To me, the point of that film was to show a serial killer as a pathetic, but cruel loser, as opposed to romanticizing him into a suave uber criminal. Behind the Mask is about lulling the crew and the audience with genre tropes into a sense of safety. This is all just silly fun. That's what makes the ending so effective. That both the audience and the crew is surprised by how brutally Leslie has planned his murder spree.
posted by miss-lapin at 7:12 AM on November 9, 2021 [2 favorites]

Yeah they can laugh and smile and chat as long as it's all kind of abstract but once the killing starts they have to look what they're complicit in full in the face; I feel like that's definitely a Statement.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:29 AM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]

Also this is pure headcanon but I choose to believe that the old man who serves as Leslie's mentor is the villain from The Town That Dreaded Sundown. Couldn't tell you why.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:37 AM on November 10, 2021 [2 favorites]

I love this movie. I don't know if a smarter meta-horror-comedy has been done, though it's a surprisingly full subgenre with little gems like Tucker and Dale Versus Evil and bigger movies like Cabin in the Woods in it. The strongest part for me is the extended scene of Leslie Vernon setting up the house and spouting lines about yonic imagery and the like that seem like they might have come directly out of Men, Women and Chainsaws.

I've never enjoyed the actual slasher part at the end, or the Man Bites Dog complicity angle, quite as much as the lead-up, it seems a bit like the writers painted themselves into a corner and didn't really have any other way to end the movie.
posted by whir at 6:50 AM on November 11, 2021

That's exactly how I felt the first time I saw it, whir. Then on rewatch, I saw it completely differently. The crux of the thing is, as Pope Guilty said it so well above: "they can laugh and smile and chat as long as it's all kind of abstract but once the killing starts they have to look what they're complicit in full in the face; I feel like that's definitely a Statement."

What feels like a bit at first is eventually an accusation and a judgment, both on the filmmakers and even the audience. It's what makes it so brilliant.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:16 AM on November 11, 2021 [1 favorite]