Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a 2006 mockumentary directed by Scott Glosserman. It stars Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals and Robert Englund. The film is an homage to the slasher film genre. It follows a film crew that documents an aspiring serial killer who models himself according to slasher film conventions. It was released in theaters on March 16, 2007.

Plot

The movie is shot as a documentary set in a world where the killers depicted in famous slasher films are real. A female journalist named Taylor Gentry and her two cameramen, Doug and Todd, document the preparations of Leslie Vernon as he prepares to join the ranks of other slasher villains. Leslie takes his identity from an urban legend about a boy who killed his family and was cast into a river by angry townsfolk. He initially claims to be the vengeful spirit of the slain boy, but soon admits that he is an ordinary man named Leslie Mancuso who must rely on conventional tactics rather than supernatural powers.

Taylor and her crew film Leslie's meticulous preparations to slaughter a number of teenagers in an abandoned house and then be confronted by a virginal "survivor girl", Kelly. Leslie plans his crime down to the smallest detail, cheerfully explaining the many tricks and "trade secrets" he utilizes to engineer what will only appear to be a spontaneous night of horror. His preparations include modifications to the house and careful manipulation of his future victims. While stalking Kelly, Leslie is overjoyed when a man named Doc Halloran arrives to serve as his nemesis; he terms him his "Ahab". Leslie also introduces the crew to his mentor, Eugene, a retired killer from a time before killers like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees became popular.

Taylor and her crew come to share Leslie's enthusiasm for his project, but their consciences catch up with them on the night of the murders. They beg Leslie to call off his killing spree, but Leslie is adamant, believing that his survivor girl will define herself by facing him. Taylor and her crew abandon their documentary, and at this point the film itself shifts from a documentary style to a traditional horror movie presentation. Taylor attempts to warn and rally the remaining teens together to fight Leslie, but Leslie's preparations repeatedly give him the upper hand. The group looks to Kelly for leadership, but she unexpectedly dies. Taylor quickly realizes that, as a virgin herself, she was Leslie's true survivor girl all along. Leslie continues picking off the group one-by-one until only Taylor remains. She faces Leslie and defeats him in the exact manner he had laid out for her, then burns down the shed in which he was defeated. She then runs into Doug and Doc Halloran who survived their encounters with Leslie.

However, Leslie's preparations included learning to feign death and slathering himself with flame-retardant gel. Over the final credits, security camera footage reveals Leslie's charred body sitting up on an autopsy table, still alive.

Reception

The film won the 2006 Audience Award at the Gen Art Film Festival in New York.

Sequel

In an interview David J Stieve, when asked if he was working on new scripts, said,

"Well, then you’re treading into sequel territory. If there is any kind of scoop, it’s not really a scoop but... I can tell you and your readers that there is a definite idea for what’s going to happen to Leslie Vernon next, that’s been the goal all along. There are a lot of what-ifs, and things to have to happen right in this business for that to ever come to fruition, but certainly if there’s going to be another horror movie coming from me, my biggest impulse, of course, is to relate what happens to Leslie next."

Nathan Baesel, when asked about the possibility of returning for a sequel to Behind the Mask, stated, "[ . . . ] there’s a certain chance. I know that ideas have already been circulating around Scott and David’s heads and I’d love to take Leslie on again. However, I don’t think we’d undertake a sequel unless the script is as good or better than Behind the Mask. The first was so good it would be pissing on Leslie’s legacy to set out with anything less than inspired . . . and Leslie would never have that."^[1]

Cast

• Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon/Mancuso
• Angela Goethals as Taylor Gentry
• Robert Englund as Doc Halloran
• Scott Wilson as Eugene
• Zelda Rubinstein as Mrs. Collinwood
• Bridgett Newton as Jamie
• Kate Lang Johnson as Kelly
• Ben Pace as Doug
• Britain Spellings as Todd
• Hart Turner as Shane
• Krissy Carlson as Lauren
• Travis Zariwny as Dr. Meuller
• Teo Gomez as "Stoned Guy"
• Matt Bolt as "Slightly More Stoned Guy"
• Anthony Forsyth as "Pitch-forked Boyfriend"

Horror film allusions

The film contains numerous allusions to common horror and slasher film conventions, which are often discussed openly by the characters. Much of Leslie Vernon's character is modeled after Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers, all of whom are mentioned as actually existing in the film . Taylor's status as a "survivor girl" (final girl) is modeled after the typically virginal female heroines who survive slasher films. Her actions, such as arming herself with a phallic weapon, follow common observations and analysis of the slasher genre. Doc Halloran's status as an "Ahab" is modeled after male protagonists, such as Dr. Loomis and Detective Norris, who sometimes appear in slasher films to thwart the villains. The character is named after the cook from The Shining. Mrs. Collinwood is also an obvious nod to Mrs. Collingwood from The Last House on the Left.

Several actors in the film are best known for their iconic roles in various horror films. Robert Englund has played Freddy Krueger in all the A Nightmare on Elm Street films. Zelda Rubinstein played the spiritual medium Tangina Barrons in Poltergeist. Kane Hodder, who has a cameo as a man living on Elm Street, played Jason Voorhees in several films in the Friday the 13th series.

The film also features a wide number of subtle allusions to various popular horror films and series. Leslie's real last name, Mancuso, is the name of the actor who portrayed Billy in the 1974 film Black Christmas, Nick Mancuso, as well as that of the producer of most of the Friday the 13th films, Frank Mancuso, Jr.. In the scene where Leslie is suiting up, a song from The Shining's soundtrack can be heard, and blocks in the background spell out the word "redrum". Eugene's wife, Jamie, is named in homage to Jamie Lee Curtis, who played the final girl role in Halloween.^[2] The three young girls playing jump-rope outside of the high school are dressed the same as the girls from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. Leslie has a bottle of "Stay Awake" on his mantle, the same medicine featured in A Nightmare on Elm Street. When Eugene and Jamie are giving Leslie his doggie bag, the Lament Configuration from Hellraiser can be seen next to a lamp. Also, Leslie's pet turtles, Church and Zowie, are an allusion to two of the pets in the Pet Sematary films.

Taylor Gentry may be named after Abraham Gentry, the reporter in Herschell Gordon Lewis' The Gore Gore Girls. At a certain scene Leslie is standing in front of a sign for a bar "The Red Rabbit". This is the bar which the matchbook in Halloween is from.

As Leslie applies Preparation H to his face before the final act the song from the end of The Shining - "Midnight, the Stars, and You" - can be heard playing in the background.

Additionally, in one of the deleted scenes, Leslie is asked what he has been doing, and he mentions having "spent some time in Texas, helping a friend kind of reinvent his thing," which is an obvious allusion to Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and the fact that a remake came out in 2003.

References

External links

• Official website
• Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon at the Internet Movie Database
• Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon at Allmovie
• Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon at Rotten Tomatoes
• 2007 Audio Interview with Behind the Mask director Scott Glosserman