Day 15: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
Starring: Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund, Zelda Rubinstein
Category: New Classic, favorite
Plot Tags: docu/mocumentary, serial killer, comedy/horror
Original release: August 2006 / March 2007
Format viewed: DVD - rented from Vulcan of course
Directed by: Scott Glosserman
Written by: Scott Glosserman, David Stieve
Studio: GlenEcho Entertainment
Distributed by: Anchor Bay Entertainment

It's funny how things work out sometimes. I had the Belgian film "Man Bites Dog" on my to-see list forever. It is considered a cult classic and has received a Criterion release but it is not easy to find. Regardless, I got to thinking about it again because of wanting to include of my favorite movies last year, Behind the Mask, which I understood had a lot of similarities. On a very base level, they are both told in the documentary style and center around a serial killer as the primary subject. In the case of Behind the Mask you have a near sympathetic character in Leslie Vernon, someone you (despite better judgement) start to relate to on a human level. This is not the case for Man Bites Dog however, as the central character is so devoid of anything human the chore of watching the film crew get drawn into his life and the purely evil, random things he does is just lousy all around. So, instead of wasting any more time on that, I'd rather get to talking about a great, funny, charming, thrilling and all together excellent piece of work in Behind the Mask (I'm in a good mood today on these things as this one and Absentia are favorites and its always fun to talk about things you really like).

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a movie split between a documentary style and a standard movie-movie style about a documentary film crew profiling a serial killer, Leslie Vernon. Leslie has a back story not unlike hundreds of other horror movie villains with family abuse/drama/murder etc etc. Leslie has returned to Glen Echo (somewhere in Portland) to exact revenge on, who else, a bunch of teens and a specially selected girl who is supposed to recognize the grander plan he has unfolding. This is all a bunch of nonsense of course, as the setup is nothing new or special and we know that the final girl always works it out, gains near superhuman strength and defeats the thing. This is where Behind the Mask becomes a supremely great film. The crew follows Leslie around and learns the many tricks of the trade in setting up the final girl, selecting the location and all the rest. Instead of just being the connect the dots horror slasher for the 90,000th time, they take a great deal of care and time dissecting all the things that happen, and even better, why they happen.

I hate to give some of this away but everything from thinking you see someone to the doorstop you setup giving way and slamming the door to those running scenes in horror movies where the running victim turns around to always see the attacker meandering along at a calm pace but growing closer - they all are explained to a very humorous end (the running/walking thing is just all manner of classic). As the time grows closer, things take a weird turn as an Ahab shows up and alters the plan. An Ahab, Leslie explains, is a scientist or cop or whatever that is very invested in the villain or victims, knows a ton and shows up to explain everything and/or battle the villain. In this case, the Ahab is played wonderfully by Robert Englund (unlike his appearance in Jack Brooks Monster Slayer which, while his performance was just fine, the movie was lousy). Anyway, we keep going until all the victims are assembled into the remote house on the apple orchard. Oh! and there is a whole sequence with Leslie's mentor too but I don't want to give any of that away at all - if you're a horror movie person, you'll get a ton of the references. Back to it, once everyone is at the house, our documentary film crew starts to have a change of heart and....

And at this point, I do not have the brass tacks to lay out the rest of the story. I had had it half figured out but the unravel and reveal is just to grand, down through the final act and even through the credits. Nathan Baesel is great as Leslie, Angela Goethals does a masterful job as Taylor/Tay, Zelda Rubinstein shows up as the librarian and if I have to tell you who she is...well I augtta...Teen Witch? Poltergeist?? Anyway, this is an absolute must for any horror fan as the humor and nonstop inside baseball are so very much fun. All in all, just enjoyable all the way around.