Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Jason, Freddy, Myers. We All Need Someone To Look Up To.
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.
| 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 |
| Krissy Carlson | Lauren |
| Travis Zariwny | Dr. Meuller |
| Teo Gomez | Stoned Guy |
| Matt Bolt | Slightly More Stoned Guy |
| Jenafer Brown | Carrie - Virgin Girl |
| Scott Glosserman |
7.00 out of 10 (4775 votes)
Visitor Reviews
What a pity
posted on 06 Aug 2009A movie that is supposed to be about a guy re-creating his own horror movie in real life. Yet even the people who he confided in, who know what he's up to and know he's only a normal man not a invincible monster, still make the same old boring horror movie moves. Six people running away from one, why? Moving small distances away from a man who walks towards them and then stopping and waiting for him, why? Seeing the killer lying hurt and motionless 5 feet away from you and using it as a chance to run away again instead of a chance to kill the f****r!.. WHY?! This movie is neither realistic enough nor unrealistic enough to work. A quipy script and a clever original idea are destroyed in the end by a poor ending to the story and idoitic characters who seem to have less common sense then a headless chicken. You simply cannot put you're typical horror movie character into a movie which is supposed to be real and expect it to work (in fact to call these characters typical horror movie ones would make them sound much more intelligent and sensible then they actually are).
Killing is his business, and business is good.
posted on 31 Jul 2009A clever, post-modern, tongue-in-cheek horror from first-time director Scott Glosserman, Behind the Mask sees a grad school documentary maker Taylor Gentry (Angela Goethals) and her crew charting the progress of aspiring psycho killer Leslie Mancuso (Nathan Baesel) as he puts the wheels in motion for his next 'job': the wholesale slaughter of a group of 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 waterfall by an angry mob), Mancuso builds his 'legend', selects his victims (including the token virginal 'Survivor Girl') and carefully prepares the final location for his killing spree; when not 'working', he chats freely with the documentary crew about his aspirations, idols, and philosophies (we even get to meet his mentor Eugene, now retired from the business and enjoying life with his hottie wife).With a wry and very dark sense of humour, Glosserman plays with the recognised conventions and clichés of the slasher (whilst also analysing the whole genre), delivering a movie designed specifically to appeal to fans who know their Myers from their Voorhees and their Springfield from their Haddonfield. Relative unknowns Baesel and Gentry do a great job in their roles, and are given solid support from genre legend Robert Englund as Leslie's 'ahab' (ie., his good-guy nemesis), psychiatrist Doc Halloran. Also popping up for the fun are Poltergeist'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 it slips awkwardly from ironic comedy into genuine slasher mode (as Taylor's conscience kicks in and she tries to intervene with the killer's plans), and a not-so-unexpected twist does little to help, but with so much great stuff happening earlier on, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is still well worth watching.Oh, and look out for a fun end-credits sequence which hints at the inevitable sequel.
Pleasant Enough Time Killer
posted on 03 Jul 2009When 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 great and it just wasn't. In a nutshell: It's 80 percent a darling little sendup and simultaneous love letter to classic slashers. I adore the Leslie Vernon character and the filmmakers do pick up on some nice arcane trivia from the subgenre. I agree with other reviews that this one could have used more gore. Wild gore was a hallmark of the 80s slashers this movie is sending up and to have hardly any seems lacking. And plot-wise, it's pretty predictable even though there are some really funny moments. I will allow that the Leslie Vernon mask is pretty damn creepy though. But mostly, the movie left me cold at the end.
enjoyable but not a horror masterpiece
posted on 13 Jun 2009"Behind the Mask" has a fresh idea concerning the slasher genre! And for that fact alone this movies deserves some credit! The problem I had was that ultimately the movie doesn't deliver! Because it's not a comedy and barely a horror! Sure there were some great scenes referring to classics like "Halloween and "Friday the 13th"! But to say that it was funny is too much! As a horror it fails because it never gets scary or thrilling! Where is the tension? When the movie shifts into an actual horror movie nothing new or original is added to the genre! I am amazed that many reviewers call this a horror masterpiece! It would have been if it had successfully mixed the comedy elements with the horror part! The comparison with the far superior "Scream" is made! "Scream" did successfully mix comedy and horror! To say that "Behind the Mask" is even better than "Scream" is ridiculous! In "Scream" there is a constant threat and tension that gets to you even when there has been some comic relief to lower the tension! "Behind the Mask" is too subtle when it actually needs to be over the top in order to be convincing! Once it gets into horror mode there shouldn't have been any restrictions! I do not need to see any blood or gore to be scared or thrilled but in this case it would have had added to the tension! And why not (just a suggestion)change the perspective? From the start we are watching Leslie Vernon! Would it not impress more if we got to see the murders from Vernon's perspective! My point is that the director had the opportunity to do something different! For a movie that tries to be different it sure remains ordinary! I did not expect much but at least more than I got! The actor who plays Leslie Vernon and the several cameos make it worth watching this movie! Oher than that it is disappointing!
Is this a joke?
posted on 03 Jun 2009This movie was so bad I had to fast forward every time the stupid lead actor said his stupid lines. In the beginning, I was hope but I could see it was just some stupid Blair Witch - Man bites Dog rip-off - documentary with a lot of meta-references to other horror movies. Then I got another shock when I saw the rating here on IMDb. Come one, how about watching a real horror movie with a real plot - such as "I know what you did last summer". Anyway, there is nothing wrong with meta-references or so-called intertextuality but it just does not work in this movie. Nothing works in this movie. Robert Englund plays the role of the doctor who is against Myers in Halloween. He does this quite well but I feel sorry for him if he has actually seen the rest of the movie. Moreover, there are some cute young women in the film apparently some sort of reference to the Ted Bundy killings and other outrageous sex-crimes. Everything in this movie is just what horror should not be and indeed this is not a movie at all no more than my movies at you-tube are movies.
An amazing film AND a treat for horror fans!
posted on 28 May 2009I watched Behind The Mask : The Rise Of Leslie Vernon at Fantasia 2006, and let me just say that it was an incredible film. It is just simply an amazing, brilliant & awesome horror film FOR horror movie fans specifically. A cross (sort of) between "Man Bites Dog" and "Scream" (and even comparing it to those films does it no justice at all), it is incredibly funny (in a smart, black humor way), and so very delightfully menacing. The acting was superb (especially from Nathan Baesel and veteran actor Scott Wilson), and the story goes from "safe" mode to being flipped upside down entirely. I can't express it's brilliance much more than that. My only complaint was some of the shaky camera-work in the beginning of the film (I'm assuming to give it that documentary feel), it didn't have to be quite so shaky. I'm definitely buying the DVD the second it hits the shelves, or hopefully it'll get a much deserved theatrical release.
A smart flick for people who get the joke.
posted on 12 May 2009This movie delivers as promised. SO many great in-jokes and hidden references to other horror classics, and the cameo of Kane Hodder raking leaves alone is enough to show you how far the filmmakers were willing to go to pay respect to the films that have come before. Much more worth the $10 than any of the Saw rip-offs or Scary Movie retreads, and it's as equally entertaining for hardcore fans of the slasher genre as it is for people who have never seen one. I doubt very much they "paid off" the critics for the New York TImes as one user commented below. Nathan Baesel is someone I exepct to see working in the movie business for a long, long time.Refreshing to see a no-budget, non-studio project find its way! If this playing in your town, do yourself a favor and check it out.
A fun poke at the horror genre!
posted on 26 Apr 2009A good natured serial killer LESLIE VERNON invites a camera crew to make a documentary on the his days leading up to him planning his own serial killing spree his targets are a young female student (who's a virgin) & her friends whom all act like the token characters you would find in a slasher movie! Throughout the filming days, Leslie plans how he'll kill each student & predicts the things they just may do while he's hunting them down one by one, what weapons they'll use to try & protect themselves, where they'll try to hide, how they'll try to escape etc. & prepares to use all this to help make his spree a little more easier, but when the night arrives & Leslie sets out to actually do the kids in, the crew realizes that they must save the kids & stop Leslie before he can kill them, however despite their intentions, this does not put a damper on Leslie's plan, it just means three more people he has to add to the list of his other potential victims. BEHIND THE MASK is a hilarious tribute to slasher films of both past & present from it's opening frame in which the camera crew & reporter film shots of CRYSTAL LAKE (JASON VOORHEES killing grounds) HADDONEFIELD (MICHAEL MYERS killing grounds) all the way to SPRING WOOD (FREDDY KRUGERS home turf) & tells of their legacy & legendary status, right through to Leslie's killing spree, BEHIND THE MASK is a real treat for slasher fans who've grown up watching & loving slasher movies. The actors were great in their roles & the film is interesting from first frame till last. The first hour of the film is like a humorous faux documentary like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, while the last half hour is pure slasher mayhem as Leslie sits his plan into motion, in between times there's plenty of pokes at slasher films & the story structure that they always rely on. ROBERT ENGLUND is funny & very entertaining as Leslie's psychiatrist an obvious riff on DONALD PLEASEANCE character DR. LOOMIS from HALLOWEEN. A definite must see for slasher fans. BEHIND THE MASK is like SCREAM for the 21st century.**** stars
Behind The Mask sets a New Low in Film Making
posted on 24 Apr 2009I think that the previous reviews I read on this site must've come from friends and relatives of this horrifically bad movie. If you notice, all the great reviews for this bomb are up on pages 1-6. The producers of this dung heap probably had the great idea to load up the initial pages with positive reviews from readers of IMDb, therefore all the negative reviews are on the last few pages. Their hope was that people will just scan the first few pages of these suck up commentaries. The movie 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 never seen such a petulant puss before. Following this serial killer guy around like a desperate puppy. The funniest aspect of this movie was the fact that these actors seemed to take their roles so seriously and spewing some really awful dialog. The entire movie had an "Intro. to Movie 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 movie such as Cloverfield.) With soap opera production values, this expose of a serial killer just tanks and will leave you with that "I just wasted my money" feeling.
Surprisingly Smart And Unpredictable
posted on 12 Apr 2009I watched this movie twice, once late at night after my kids were asleep because I knew it might be a bit scary. That first time I was a little bit disappointed and bored, but wasn't really 100% paying attention because I was tired and using the computer while watching.OK, so I watched it again the next day because I didn't really see the ending the first time, and I knew it wasn't even close enough to being scary to bother my kids. And the second time, doing nothing but watching the movie and understanding what was going on, I found the movie to be a lot better than I thought the first time.You start out thinking it's a "mockumentary" like Blair Witch and a little monotone, but with a bunch of classic jokes that jab fun at the Horror genre. But that's just the movie's way of completely dropping your guard and fooling you into thinking you know what's going to happen, and it's particularly effective with long-time horror fans like me.Then the mockumentary melts away into a horror movie where you *think* you know exactly what's going to happen even though every time you think you know what's going to happen you're wrong, then every time you guess and you're still wrong.Sure, there are some cliché horror movie parts that are predictable including the very end of the movie during the credits, but this IS a horror movie ABOUT a generic slasher horror movie story, like an examination from the other side, so where else would it lead? There are key turning points in the story where you realize what's going on and sudden realizations of how the characters really fit into this story.So, it ends up being a standard little slasher movie like the classics (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street), but it's surprising and incredibly smart when you think about how the movie got you to that point from the beginning.
Original story and excellent dialog
posted on 25 Mar 2009This is the most original slasher movie I've seen in a long time. The premise, as absurd as it sounds, centers around an average guy who wants to follow in the footsteps of Jason and Freddy by planning and executing on a plan to massacre a bunch of high, drunk, over-sexed stupid teenagers, while being filmed by a documentary film maker. The movie is quite brilliant as this setup allows for a deconstruction of the whole slasher genre with our soon to be killer explains in detail the why, when and how of slashing. There's even an explanation for why the bad guys never look in the closet.This movie was very entertaining from start to finish. The script was very original which is quite an accomplishment considering the millions of slasher films out there. The dialog was excellent and well written. The acting was great and quite enjoyable to watch, especially that the characters were in some cases just so over the top. As I watched the movie I was just amazed at the absurdity of the story and more amazed that it worked so well. All in all I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this movies.
Loved it, genius!
posted on 17 Mar 2009This film rocks sports fans. Its Man bites dog meets Halloween. Brilliant performances, great direction, very funny, inspired film making! Nathan Baesel was especially entertaining as the "Michael Mires" style character, keep an eye out for him in the future. And with appearances from Robert Englund, Scott Wilson, and Kane Hodder makes this an absolute must for any old school slasher fan. the only reason it did not get a 10 from me was the gore, it didn't need it but some hard core, well done Peter Jackson (braindead) style gore would have made this film one of the all time greats and been the proverbial icing on the cake. if you're a Rami, Jacksoon, Carpenter, Craven etc. fan then you MUST SEE THIS FILM!
Inside Joke for Slasher fans
posted on 13 Feb 2009If you are a slasher film fan than you will probably get a few kicks out of this movie but thats about it. It tells the story of up and coming serial killer Leslie Vernon and how he plans his next big killing spree that will put him up with the ranks of Freddy, Jason, and Mike Myers. The film actually has these characters exist which is the first problem for me. It tries to be clever and original but lacks the legitimacy to do so. The reason a film like Scream was so effective was because it acknowledged how ridiculous slasher movies are and exploited that. This film is placed in their world and tries to make them genuine people who just happen to plan these elaborate unmotivated massacres before returning home to their normal lives."Behind the Mask" is done as a mokumentary which is another big problem for me. A serial killer trying to build his legend would have a camera crew follow his every step and show his joking light hearted human side. Now I'm nitpicking here but come on. Leslie even takes the crew over to see his old retired serial killer friend who lives with his apple pie baking housewife in a nice home. They have a chat over dinner about the techniques of the old boys 'Mike' and 'Fred' and 'Jay' before giving the woman in charge of the documentary her doggy bag. The killers are portrayed as funny normal people who kill people on the side and than chat about it with their buddies.Now there are a few funny moments in the movie, don't get me wrong and a real slasher fan will find some enjoyment in it but mostly it's just repackaged Scream cleverness that lacks the originality and believability of that film.
overrated flick
posted on 11 Feb 2009I don't know what to think of this overrated flick. DVD of the month in fango. Much fuzz on the net about the storyline...It starts of pretty well with the fact that Freddy, Jason and Michael all are real characters. That's funny. Then we follow a journalist making a docu about serial killers so she actually follows one. He tells them how to kill and what he is going to do. Very promising. Halfway the movie things get wrong when they are filming his killings. But there the movie also got wrong. With the hype concerning the movie you rather think it will get gory or because it's mainstream bloody. In fact it never does. It all about a lot of blah blah the first part and then a lot of suspense but nothing really happens in front of the camera. A shame in times of those gory French movies and the torture porns. The fact that Englund is in it doesn't deliver anything special. for me he isn't that hyped actor anymore.I have met him twice in the flesh, downfall i guess. Look what he did the last years, most movies flopped. Anyway, if you would like to see a docu about a serial go watch Man Bites Dog or also known as C'est arrivez près de chez vous, that delivers on all parts.
Not Scary or Funny – total crap!!!
posted on 10 Jan 2009This movie has a lot of problems starting with the lead actor. How is the audience supposed to believe that a scrawny kid who looks like he's straight out of WB's Seventh Heaven is the deranged killer? His acting is terrible as well and doesn't fit this type of film.Then there's the misfire attempts at comedy which led me to believe this movie was trying to make up for its shortcomings in scares (or anything close to tension or horror) with jokes which didn't seem to work either.Another bigtime complaint is there's no gore or decent kill effects. Its like the director thought that the failed attempts at making a joke out of horror clichés was going to make up for the lack of kills (I think the first kill doesn't take place until like 45 minutes into the movie) and gore. Pitiful.I watched this movie with high expectations as it seemed to have garnered a few decent reviews but damn was I disappointed. For a film that is trying to say its giving you a killer in the vein of the great slashers (IE: JASON, FREDDY, MICHAEL MYERS) its misses its mark completely. I ended up turning it off when the predictable ending kicked into place and I was like gimme a break. I would best compare this to The Village in that I was mislead into believing I was going to see a horror film and was fooled into watching some ineffective boring crap that couldn't lift a scare, laugh, or emotion other than thinking," This Sucks!!! People got to stop giving Anchor Bay props for releasing movies like this and advertising them as horror films when they're not scary horrific or funny.
Scream (rip-off) for the next generation.
posted on 04 Jan 2009I have never been a fan of Scream, but I'm going to give credit to it for 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 thing that Scream did and everyone thinks it's oh-so-original because it copies the same formula. That's about the equivalent of saying: "If you were nonconforming too, you'd be just like me." The premise of interviewing a slasher villain is nothing different from Man Bites Dog, then the movie just uses the exact same jokes and plot points as Scream. EXACT. This has to be in one of the top 250 unoriginal movies of all time because there is not a single thing that Scott Glosserman thought of himself.If unoriginality is the first major flaw of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, the second major flaw is just as annoying. The predictability. About 15 minutes in I already figured out the remainder of the plot, including what some people will loosely call the plot twist in the middle. It's just paradoxical that while this movie tried to make clichés laughable, it falls into every one of them at least once without noticing. Now that is something to laugh at, not the lame jokes.The acting is iffy. Leslie himself, as some have mentioned, it a total pansy and doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the villains he compares himself to. Some of his jokes are smile-worthy, but that doesn't take the edge off the utterly boring moments where the camera sits and stares at a wall with nothing happening. Or the boring conversation scenes.Another thing that really bothered me was the lack of any gore whatsoever. Every scene when something even mildly violent happens, the camera is looking at the floor or the wall or someone's face. I've seen countless PG-13 movies with more blood. This is supposed to be a parody of the slasher genre, yet it shows no slashing. Am I really the only one who has a problem with that? Overall, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon added nothing new or original to the better parodies out there. It can't stand on it's own two feet, so to speak, and it has the entertainment value and thrill of watching a dead tree rot. What a sad waste of movie rights.1/10
More exciting than a dozens Screams
posted on 25 Dec 2008Got that tag line (summary) from a little movie called "Hard Boiled", which back then used "Die hard" as a reference. Just to be clear, I'm making fun of that tag line, it's not meant literally! Having said that, though I have to say, that this really takes the whole self awareness "thing"/train, that horror movies been riding to a whole new level! You could say, "this is a small step for Scott Glosserman, but a big one for horror movies"!! There's another tag line, you could use! ;o) So why do I think this movie is great? Haven't other movies made fun of a genre before (like the aforementioned Scream movies)?! Yes but this goes a step further. At least in my eyes. You have to see the last act to believe it. It's just incredible! :o)
Horror/Comedy at its best
posted on 23 Dec 2008This movie is so much fun. Superbly acted, Nathan Baesel who plays Leslie Vernon is amazing. I saw this film at Fantasia Festival for its North American premier, and it blew my expectations away. Very few directors can get away with making a low budget film that incorporates horror and comedy all the while being something of a mocumentary. But this films gets away with all of them. Touching on areas of nostalgic horror which anyone could appreciate. I can't wait for it's DVD release, which is said to have a lot more bloody extras. I recommend this film to all fans of the horror genre who love a little comedy mixed in.
Poor
posted on 19 Dec 2008Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) * 1/2 (out of 4)Really bad horror film that tries to say something about serial killers. The only catch is that the serial killer in this film is inspired by real killers including Jason (from Friday the 13th, Michael Myers (from Halloween) and Freddy (from A Nightmare on Elm Street). Yes, the gimmick of this film is that those three fictional characters are actually real and the serial killer here hires a documentary crew to follow him around as he prepared to become the next legend. This film somewhat works at the start since the screenwriters try and show us how a serial killer thinks but this whole idea runs out of steam around the twenty-minute marks and the rest of the movie is just downright slow, boring and silly. The performances are really bad, although Robert Englund comes off okay.
Outstanding slasher flick / comedy documentary!
posted on 20 Aug 2009OK, I am a HUGE fan of those old 80's slasher films (Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th, Halloween, etc). I have been longing for a good one for years (Scream was about as close as it has gotten since the 80's). I saw the trailer for this film and it intrigued me - a slasher horror flick intertwined with a comedy documentary?! Could they pull it off and make it good? The production value looked impressive in the trailer. Well, I just saw this film at SXSW and it blew me away. The look and feel were perfect. The script was right on. Nathan Baesel delivers a Christian-Bale-worthy performance and is a diamond in the rough.I think New Line (or someone like them) could pick this film up, distribute it as-is, and make top film big box office. That's how good it was. I'm Scott's new biggest fan!My prediction: You WILL see this movie coming soon to a theater near you!