I’ve gotten out of order a bit in “The Year of Slashers”, and we now find ourselves in 2006 with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. Set in a world where all our fictional slashers are real, a documentary crew follows the next would-be legend as he prepares for his killing spree. Behind the Mask is a loving deconstruction of what makes a slasher villain work.

• Directed by: Scott Glosserman
• Written by: Scott Glosserman David J. Stieve
• Starring: Nathan Baesel. Angela Goethals. Zelda Rubinstein

The Set-Up

Journalist Taylor is interviewing Leslie, who claims to be a young boy killed by the townsfolk when they believed him to be evil. During the interview, Leslie seems odd, but certainly not murderous, as he takes a month to set up his murder spree.

Leslie takes Taylor through all the tropes. He trains in cardio and hand-to-hand combat and teaches Taylor how he stalks his victims. It’s all very light-hearted and fun until you remember that this guy is planning on killing a lot of people later.

There is a surreal quality to the beginning of the movie, with the killers and would be killers discussing murder as if it’s a profession. There are some interesting conversations with Eugene, who character-wise is an amalgam of some of the slashers we’ve already covered, about the shift in kinds of killers. Another topic is  the need for evil in the world in order to bring out the good.

The Good

Behind the Mask does some interesting things with its concept.  The cinematography switches from documentary to cinematic style when the focus is on Leslie’s victims.  It also makes great use of horror legend Robert Englund. Kane Hodder gets a cameo too.

This is a movie that is trying to bring something new to the slasher genre in a post-Scream landscape. Some of the analysis that Leslie give is…almost correct, which makes for interesting viewing. How would a killer analyze the actions of a final girl as written in the script?  Leslie’s self-centered focus is in-character and delightfully manic. It’s also his undoing.

The Not-So-Good

There are of course a few issues with Behind the Mask.  Like so many parodies and satires, in the end it becomes what it wants to mock.  The problem with the last act is that we only care about two characters in this movie: Taylor and Leslie.  We only really get to know Leslie through his commitment to his work.

Taylor is someone who is an accessory to the murders of multiple teenagers. Her connection to Leslie, and her drive to stop him, make her interesting. It makes the concept intriguing, but it’s not explored in a true deconstructive sense. When we hit that part of the movie, it’s already moving full speed ahead. It never stops to address some of the more interesting questions, like how did Taylor and Leslie find each other in the first place?

Once Taylor ends the documentary, it becomes another slasher, complete with the expected bait.

The Overall Issues

There are still some nice twists and turns as the teens run through Leslie’s carefully laid-out plans.  There are also some great moments when Leslie has to do things he doesn’t want to do to keep his legend going.  We’re just, once again, hit by pacing issues. I’m not sure how I would fix this. Getting the introduction to Leslie is important, but we don’t spend enough time with the teens or Taylor’s film crew.

Or maybe that’s not important after all. In Behind the Mask, much is said about the survivor girl becoming stronger through this ordeal. That certainly applies to Taylor. We see her go from a detached journalist to someone who cares about the fate of her subjects, even though she doesn’t know them.  That’s probably the good in her coming out as she faces the killer.

Of course, one would question: if she was truly good, would she have let things get as far as they did?  I’m deeply conflicted about this movie!

I don’t know if I like Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon as much as I appreciate all the elements, just not the way they come together. 2006 was a great year for creative slashers. All The Boys Love Mandy Lane also came out and has some great twists on beloved genre standards.

As a slasher, Behind the Mask succeeds by explaining how slashers work. It hits all the tropes: the tragic backstory, the isolation, the final girl. It has an in-world reason why these things are important, which yeah, is kind of cool.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a serious, tense slasher, this is not the one. The first half is all set up. The slasher elements are fast, and there is almost no suspense. It is, however, clever and clearly written by people who love slashers. I respect the hell out of that.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is available on streaming.