Leslie Vernon is the guy we follow around. He’s looking to make a name for himself and
aspires to be the next Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees. But he’s just some average motherfuckin’ Joe
with no presence, fucked up backstory or look.
He works hard though and takes this shit seriously which makes him very
likeable. Leslie goes on about how much
he has to work out and how he picks his victims and all that. But he also reveals tricks of the trade like he
sabotages the handle on the ax so that if anyone tries to use it the thing will
break after the first swing and that he coats himself with gel that not only
helps with bleeding and swelling but it’s also a flame retardant. His enthusiasm is infectious and all the prep
he has to do (each point addressing some slasher movie cliché) is impressive.
However, the filmmakers didn’t want to keep the whole
mockumentary thing going. The ending
turns into an actual slasher flick with all the typical stuff you would
expect. The change is fairly jarring and
more importantly unwarranted. For two
thirds of the film we get a different and well executed take on the horror
subgenre, but then it gets thrown out the window to become the very thing that
it’s making fun of.
Well, “making fun of” is too strong. It’s more like a roast. The people who made this thing clearly love
slasher movies and this is their way of paying tribute. I guess director Scot Glosserman and company
just couldn’t decide if they wanted to make a traditional Halloween type picture or this other behind-the-scenes kind of
deal. So they compromised and ended up
doing both. They should’ve stuck with
the mockumentary all the way through in my opinion. I mean I love slashers but they’re a dime a
dozen. And so few are really great that
the odds are stacked too high against any new entry. I’m not saying people should stop making
those types of pictures but it’s very difficult to bring something new to the
table and make it work. That’s why it’s more
frustrating than usual with Behind the
Mask changing gears to a serious horror movie. They were actually doing something somewhat
unique and fresh but decided to ditch it at the last moment.
If you’re a horror fan this is definitely worth seeing. Hell, even if you’re not a horror person you’ll
probably find the inner workings of a serial killer enlightening and well,
funny. It’s a fucking humorous
concept. It’s hard not to get caught up
in the logistics and minutiae of the day to day operations of a slasher killer
(or wannabe slasher killer). This had
classic written all over it but the filmmakers kinda fucked it up. But hey, those first two thirds are very
entertaining and even a little magical.