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, all the while deconstructing the conventions and archetypes of the horror genre for them.
Genre(s): Comedy, Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: 7.0/10 (6,191 votes)
Release Date: 8 July 2006
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Glen Echo Entertainment
Sound: Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated R for horror violence, language, some sexual content and brief drug use.
Director(s): Scott Glosserman
Producer(s):
Al Corley – executive producer
Scott Glosserman – producer
Michael D. Jones – line producer
Andrew Lewis – executive producer
Eugene Musso – executive producer
Bart Rosenblatt – executive producer
David J. Stieve – co-producer
Writer(s):
Scott Glosserman – writer
David J. Stieve – writer
Cast:
Nathan Baesel – Leslie Vernon
Angela Goethals – Taylor Gentry
Robert Englund – Doc Halloran
Scott Wilson – Eugene
Zelda Rubinstein – Mrs. Collinwood
Bridgett Newton – Jamie
Kate Lang Johnson – Kelly Curtis
Ben Pace – Doug Johnson
Britain Spellings – Todd Best
Hart Turner – Shane
Music: Gordy Haab
Tagline: Jason, Freddy, Myers. We All Need Someone To Look Up To.
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Watched this movie last night and had a great time with it. When's thelast time anyone was able to say that about a movie with Robert Englundin it? The flick takes place in a world in which Freddy Krueger, JasonVoorhees and Michael Myers are real and (in some places) admired fortheir killing sprees. Leslie Vernon is either a wannabee killer or akiller who's looking for some fame. He invites a film crew to comedocument his life, his friendships (including his now-retired mentorand his wife) and his plans for his next developing murder spree. Allis not what it seems and there's some surprises as well as a great dealof the kind of tongue in cheek humor("So would you say you're pro-life,Leslie?", "Mikey, Jay and Fred, those guys redefined it, turned it intoan art') that I like.
The acting is good from the two leads, less so from some of the otherplayers. In particular, Zelda "Everyone must cross over" Rubinsteinprovides a terrible performance that is almost distracting enough tohave made me turn the movie off: her one scene, based on how thedirector keeps cutting away, I think they must have been feeding herlines one by one.
Englund is given a decent role, basically playing Donald Pleasance fromHalloween and doing about as well as Pleasance did.
This is a very clever low budget movie, one that turns its shortcomingsinto assets and, tongue planted firmly in cheek, it entertains. Wellworth catching on cable.
Thanks, now i know how to kill somebody and be a good serial killer.
I strongly recommend this film to idiots who want to be a killer anddon't know how already. Everything covered in this movie is mindblowingly stupid or things we have heard already.
It basically ruins the fun of horror movies to begin with.
First of all saying that Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and MichaelMyers were ordinary guys who made a reputation for themselves. NOT agood idea if they were planning to make this movie successful. All 3characters had intricate back stories.. they shouldn't ruin that.
Secondly i didn't think the use of a hand-held camera was aparticularly good idea. Even though the characters were filming adocumentary i think they should have used it for the whole film itwould have given a better perspective on things. Other movies have madebetter use of this for instance "Diary of the Dead" and "Cloverfield"which i recommend. Anyway why would these people volunteer for filmingthis in the first place they must be screwed up. What were they doingin the first place anyhow? Giving a step by step killing guide. Okay itmay look fun..you think it'll hold up in court?
I did like the twist near the end when they discover who the realvirgin survivor girl is all along. You could blatantly see it wascoming but made the movie that little bit more entertaining.
Overall An Awful movie, with the bad acting adding to thedisappointments. Worse than Friday 13th Part 7! Yes, that bad.
This movie is a burlesque attempt to ridicule the slasher movies. Usinga reporter (blond of course lol) who's trying to produce a documentaryon slasher killers and manages to get the consent of one to film him''working''.It was quite a good idea ruined by….everything else! Itcould be great but there's a total lack of substance on the wholepicture, on the killer itself, on the way the story is told, on thedialogues which are totally plane, and i hated, it started with theconcept of one ''crew, one camera'', and was suddenly changed in themiddle. The script (that could have become a pretty deep,disconcertingand realistic view over the original idea the movie starts on), wastotally dashed by a deficiency in keeping any fact believable orsustained on any grounds, in total gaps in the story that make absoluteno sense like:(why the crew stayed to the killing night and didn'twarned anybody?wouldn't that make them accomplices?…why would theythink the killer would let them go away clean, if by his own statementson the documentary, the idea was: No witness?, etc, etc, etc…..). Ithink this movie was just a copy of ''scream'' but without the fun.Watchable for the, yet kind of predictable, twist in the end,and theidea it starts on but that's it.
A clever, post-modern, tongue-in-cheek horror from first-time directorScott Glosserman, Behind the Mask sees a grad school documentary makerTaylor Gentry (Angela Goethals) and her crew charting the progress ofaspiring psycho killer Leslie Mancuso (Nathan Baesel) as he puts thewheels in motion for his next 'job': the wholesale slaughter of a groupof teens in sleepy Echo Falls.
Adopting the persona of local 'myth' Leslie Vernon (who, as a child,supposedly murdered his parents and was thrown over the local waterfallby an angry mob), Mancuso builds his 'legend', selects his victims(including the token virginal 'Survivor Girl') and carefully preparesthe final location for his killing spree; when not 'working', he chatsfreely with the documentary crew about his aspirations, idols, andphilosophies (we even get to meet his mentor Eugene, now retired fromthe business and enjoying life with his hottie wife).
With a wry and very dark sense of humour, Glosserman plays with therecognised conventions and clichés of the slasher (whilst alsoanalysing the whole genre), delivering a movie designed specifically toappeal to fans who know their Myers from their Voorhees and theirSpringfield from their Haddonfield. Relative unknowns Baesel and Gentrydo a great job in their roles, and are given solid support from genrelegend Robert Englund as Leslie's 'ahab' (ie., his good-guy nemesis),psychiatrist Doc Halloran. Also popping up for the fun arePoltergeist's helium voiced midget Zelda Rubinstein and Kane 'Jason'Hodder in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo.
Towards the end, the film does admittedly lose some of its magic as itslips awkwardly from ironic comedy into genuine slasher mode (asTaylor's conscience kicks in and she tries to intervene with thekiller's plans), and a not-so-unexpected twist does little to help, butwith so much great stuff happening earlier on, Behind the Mask: TheRise of Leslie Vernon is still well worth watching.
Oh, and look out for a fun end-credits sequence which hints at theinevitable sequel.
I think that the previous reviews I read on this site must've come fromfriends and relatives of this horrifically bad movie. If you notice,all the great reviews for this bomb are up on pages 1-6. The producersof this dung heap probably had the great idea to load up the initialpages with positive reviews from readers of IMDb, therefore all thenegative reviews are on the last few pages. Their hope was that peoplewill just scan the first few pages of these suck up commentaries. Themovie was so poorly acted that it was hard to take just from that fact.The girl who played the reporter was especially annoying. I've neverseen such a petulant puss before. Following this serial killer guyaround like a desperate puppy. The funniest aspect of this movie wasthe fact that these actors seemed to take their roles so seriously andspewing some really awful dialog. The entire movie had an "Intro. toMovie Making" feel to it, as if this film was made as a class project.Shot digitally, with a hand held camera to give the viewer a feeling of"real time," this technique failed miserably (unlike a well done moviesuch as Cloverfield.) With soap opera production values, this expose ofa serial killer just tanks and will leave you with that "I just wastedmy money" feeling.
When a film crew embarks on a journey into the heart of evil…well,you generally get a movie with some good moments. And "Behind the Mask:The Rise of Leslie Vernon" is no exception. But I wanted it to be greatand it just wasn't. In a nutshell: It's 80 percent a darling littlesendup and simultaneous love letter to classic slashers. I adore theLeslie Vernon character and the filmmakers do pick up on some nicearcane trivia from the subgenre. I agree with other reviews that thisone could have used more gore. Wild gore was a hallmark of the 80sslashers this movie is sending up and to have hardly any seems lacking.And plot-wise, it's pretty predictable even though there are somereally funny moments. I will allow that the Leslie Vernon mask ispretty damn creepy though. But mostly, the movie left me cold at theend.
This movie was so bad I had to fast forward every time the stupid leadactor said his stupid lines. In the beginning, I was hope but I couldsee it was just some stupid Blair Witch – Man bites Dog rip-off -documentary with a lot of meta-references to other horror movies. ThenI got another shock when I saw the rating here on IMDb. Come one, howabout watching a real horror movie with a real plot – such as "I knowwhat you did last summer". Anyway, there is nothing wrong withmeta-references or so-called intertextuality but it just does not workin this movie. Nothing works in this movie. Robert Englund plays therole of the doctor who is against Myers in Halloween. He does thisquite well but I feel sorry for him if he has actually seen the rest ofthe movie. Moreover, there are some cute young women in the filmapparently some sort of reference to the Ted Bundy killings and otheroutrageous sex-crimes. Everything in this movie is just what horrorshould not be and indeed this is not a movie at all no more than mymovies at you-tube are movies.
I have never been a fan of Scream, but I'm going to give credit to itfor being a semi-original idea in it's time. Now over ten years later,Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon does the exact same thingthat Scream did and everyone thinks it's oh-so-original because itcopies the same formula. That's about the equivalent of saying: "If youwere nonconforming too, you'd be just like me." The premise ofinterviewing a slasher villain is nothing different from Man Bites Dog,then the movie just uses the exact same jokes and plot points asScream. EXACT. This has to be in one of the top 250 unoriginal moviesof all time because there is not a single thing that Scott Glossermanthought of himself.
If unoriginality is the first major flaw of Behind the Mask: The Riseof Leslie Vernon, the second major flaw is just as annoying. Thepredictability. About 15 minutes in I already figured out the remainderof the plot, including what some people will loosely call the plottwist in the middle. It's just paradoxical that while this movie triedto make clichés laughable, it falls into every one of them at leastonce without noticing. Now that is something to laugh at, not the lamejokes.
The acting is iffy. Leslie himself, as some have mentioned, it a totalpansy and doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as thevillains he compares himself to. Some of his jokes are smile-worthy,but that doesn't take the edge off the utterly boring moments where thecamera sits and stares at a wall with nothing happening. Or the boringconversation scenes.
Another thing that really bothered me was the lack of any gorewhatsoever. Every scene when something even mildly violent happens, thecamera is looking at the floor or the wall or someone's face. I've seencountless PG-13 movies with more blood. This is supposed to be a parodyof the slasher genre, yet it shows no slashing. Am I really the onlyone who has a problem with that?
Overall, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon added nothing newor original to the better parodies out there. It can't stand on it'sown two feet, so to speak, and it has the entertainment value andthrill of watching a dead tree rot. What a sad waste of movie rights.
1/10
Behind the Mask takes place in the parallel world where scary movieslive, and a team of young filmmakers set out to make a real lifedocumentary about a serial killer at work. Such is their dedication tocapturing realism that they are willing to follow the killer around andallow the murders to happen so that they can capture it all on tape.The movie is a fascinating and clever analysis of how the mind of ahorror movie slasher works.
More than anything else, the movie is a brilliant horror comedy inwhich Leslie Vernon, the main character, leads our film-making teamthrough the whole process of how he pulls off the vintage horror-moviemurders. It's basically an exploration of how those horror movie scenesare constructed. How the doors slam shut at just the right moment, howthe perfect weapons are always available to the killer while the victimcan't seem to find anything to protect himself or herself, and how thekiller manages to let all the other promiscuous teenagers in thevicinity know that there is a killer on the loose and yet still manageto pick them off one by one.
It also explores the history of the slasher genre, because Vernon is,of course, an avid horror movie buff, and idolizes all the great maskedmurderers. At one point in the movie, he claims that having MichaelMyers and Freddy and Jason come back from the dead was a "radicalchange in philosophy. Changed the whole business."
Nathan Baesel gives the perfect performance as Leslie Vernon. He'sobviously disturbed and is also the product of a rape of his mother,but the most startling aspect of his character is how incredibly NORMALhe is. He laughs and jokes and talks to the film-making team as thoughthey were making a documentary about his collection of rare toy carsthan about his habit of brutally murdering large numbers of people.He's far too casual and easy-going to really be able to accept him as aserial killer (he even drives a Prius!), but that is the heart of themovie's charm.
In the second half of the movie, however, the team decide that theywere not as dedicated to their film as they thought they would be, andthey decide that they can't just stand by and allow the killings tohappen. In one of the movie's best scenes, Vernon stands there in fullmasked slasher get-up, mask and weapon and all, and scolds them like ababysitter scolding a naughty kid.
It's hilarious the way he is so clearly offended by their behavior ashe tells them that they have "that 'we can't just stand here and letthis happen' look on their faces" and says that now they have to leave.
Unfortunately, this is where the clever horror movie analysis ends andit turns into a more conventional slasher movie. The acting falls off acliff and the killings stop making sense. But worst of all, having lostall of her footage, the remaining member of the documentary team at theend of the movie makes the bizarre and senseless decision to burnVernon's body, I guess to destroy any remaining evidence of her crazystory, just in case she later had to explain any of this.
But other than that, it's a unique and fresh look at the horror genreand a fun exploration of its history and methods.
In Glen Echo, Maryland, the reporter Taylor Gentry (Angela Goethals) ispreparing a documentary with her crew about the ultimate serial killerLeslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel), the true successor of Jason Voorhees,Fred Krueger and Michael Myers. The helpful Vernon, who was murdered inNelly Falls, welcomes Taylor and exposes his plan for his reappearanceon the anniversary of his death. He follows the virgin Kelly Curtis(Kate Lang Johnson), who will gather her friends in the former Leslie'shouse, and will kill each one of them. However, when Taylor finishesher work, she decides to help the other teenagers.
"Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" is original deconstructingthe clichés of horror movies, but it does not work well. The first partof the movie is boring, flawed and too long, instead of funny. When thebloodshed begins, it becomes more interesting without being special.The IMDb rating (7.0) is actually overrated, misleading the readers. Myvote is five.
Title (Brazil): "Por Trás da Máscara – O Surgimento de Leslie Vernon"("Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon")