Behind the Mask DVD Review

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a horror/mock documentary film about a Grad student, Taylor, played by Angela Goethals, who is invited to film a documentary about up and coming serial killer Vernon Leslie, played by Nathan Baesel.

With plenty of pop culture horror film references such as Freddy Krueger (of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise), Michael Myers (of the Halloween franchise) and Jason Voorhees (of the Friday the 13th franchise), Leslie proves that he wants to ensconce himself into horror history by following the “Carnage Code” and making a name for himself. According to said code “closets are places of womb-like sanctuary, sexually-active teens are always the first to die” and much more.

As Taylor follows Leslie and documents his plans and plotting, she meets his “survivor girl”, meets his mentor, and discovers that a psychiatrist named Dr. Halloran is also Leslie’s arch nemesis.

Considering this film is the effort of first time filmmaker Scott Glosserman, the fact that Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is at once entertaining, scary and funny is pure genius. The respect Glosserman has for the genre is also apparent in that he includes cameo appearances by Robert Englund (Freddie Krueger himself) and Zelda Rubinstein (a la Poltergeist).

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 Surround. Extras include audio commentary with Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Brian Spellings and Ben Pace; a Making of Behind the Mask; a Casting of Behind the Mask featurette; deleted and extended scenes; and access to the original screenplay via the DVD-Rom element of the disc.

For those who enjoy the sharp wit of the Scream franchise, along with some good old fashioned horror chills, this is the film for you. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is the perfect example of what happens when smart people with indie aspirations make a horror film/mock documentary. The end result is not only appropriately chilling, but also funny, sarcastic and, at times, downright hilarious.