IMDb user comments for
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

advertisement

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 8:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Index

77 comments in total

---

13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Original and clever alternative to "Scream", 17 August 2007

Author: Superunknovvn from Austria, Vienna

Wes Craven's "Scream" was a strikingly dead-on persiflage of the Slasher genre while at the same time including enough scares to become more than just a parody, but an important part of that genre itself. "Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon" is very similar in that aspect, but it's also completely different in others.

For the most part the movie is a fake documentary in true "Spinal Tap"-fashion. A TV crew follows Leslie Vernon around, a guy who has the ambition to become the next slasher legend after his idols Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger (who exist in the movie's reality). As Leslie shows the team how he prepares for a killing spree he deconstructs one horror rule after the other with pretty amusing results. The movie observes the genre pretty well and the sort of "Backstage" look we get of a horror icon lovingly planning his big night is nothing short of hilarious. Where "Scream" made fun of some ridiculous horror clichés and toyed around with them, "Behind The Mask" is merely explaining just how those seemingly supernatural killers are able to work so effectively. So, although both movies cover similar ground, "Behind The Mask" is never in any way repetitive.

Leslie Vernon turns out to be a really sweet guy who just loves what he's doing. He's friends with an older, more experienced slasher, who's also very warm and talkative. Neither of those guys look like typical maniacs, so when Leslie does make his first appearance masked and all, it's rather amusing.

However, the movie makes a pretty amazing turn in the final third. For the big showdown we leave the movie-within-a-movie scenario created by the documentary set-up and are taken right into the movie's reality. All of a sudden "Behind The Mask" turns into a real slasher film. Although this last part isn't half-bad, it's not quite as enjoyable as what preceded it. The twist is a bit predictable and the movie lacks real gore and suspense at the end in order to work as a slasher flick. One has to say that "Scream" coming from an old professional such as Wes Craven was more successful in that aspect. Still, regarding the fact that this movie strictly concentrates on fun in the first two thirds and only begins to throw in full on horror bits in the end, the showdown works quite well.

Leslie's mask was chosen wisely. It can look ridiculous and scary depending on the mood of the scene. Nathan Baesel, who makes his movie debut here, was chosen even more wisely. He can play the nice guy and the psychopath without ever overacting and hands in a great, great performance. The other member of the cast that must be mentioned is horror legend Robert Englund who does a nice Donald Pleasance-impersonation.

The subtle little homages to "Friday The 13th", "Halloween" and "A Nightmare On Elm Street" throughout the movie are the icing on the cake and will make the heart of every true horror fan beat faster. And that's the only true flaw of "Behind The Mask" right there: it's for true horror geeks only who can laugh about the inside jokes. Everyone else will probably not be entertained as much. If you're into the genre, though, there's no way you should miss this excellent motion picture.

---

26 out of 44 people found the following comment useful :-
GREAT Movie!, 25 April 2007

Author: kagyakusha from Canada

I highly highly recommend this movie. It's a black comedy/mockumentary/horror movie that's bloody hilarious. I LOVED it. I can't recommend it enough!!! If you're a horror film junkie, or even if you're not (for example, my boyfriend doesn't particularly like horror films but is fond of intelligent comedy and was right beside me laughing for this one) you should DEFINITELY see this movie! It's so respectful of the genre at the same time that it plays with it... Nathan Baesel, who says he was inspired by Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter really pulls off charming and cheery -- not copying Lecter, but applying the influence to create a new and lovable serial killer (this is what makes him both funny AND creepy - it's impossible not to like him!).

---

11 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
You will laugh your ass off, 26 July 2007

Author: benjaminw-1 from Texas

This is a mockumentary of a stereo-typical slasher killer from Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street (more Friday the 13th) based on Jason, where a grad student film/journalism crew follow around the day-time slasher named Leslie Vernon while he rationalizes and goes into great logistical detail on how and who he selects to stalk/kill. I laughed my ass off. It's an unexpectedly great movie, watch it!

IMDb just told me my review isn't long enough. Sorry, I'm not going to tell you I was at some elitist movie debut, because- that's right, I stole the movie. And I don't know who directed it, starred in it or wrote it. Oddly enough, I don't care either. This movie is phucking funny, I would probably pay to watch it (ok, I'm bullshitting). If you like slasher flicks, and/or you get irritated at all the same slasher flick BS where the silly bastards who die do stupid things, this movie puts a neat light on all of it.

---

21 out of 37 people found the following comment useful :-
Loved it, genius!, 28 May 2007

Author: Ogami Itto from Ireland

This 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!

---

49 out of 93 people found the following comment useful :-
Don't believe the OVER-hyper, 12 July 2006

Author: Ash512 from Quebec, Canada

I saw this at the Fantasia Film Festival. I have to admit the first act has some really funny moment, and the actor who portrays Leslie Vernon is great. That being said, the second part turns into a full-blown slasher. The break is WAY too rough to really make it believable, plus the slasher part does not deliver the suspense nor the action, nor the gore we would expect from that kind of movie, which makes it quite monotonous and basically, dull. The director did an okay job, alternating between hand-held video cameras for the documentary parts and stable HD cams for the slasher parts. The guys does have a respect for the genre, but that won't necessarily make the movie good. The cast is pretty solid, especially the guy who plays Leslie Vernon like I said earlier.

So the ''mockumentary'' part is pretty funny, but the ending is terrible. Watchable, but not amazing.

---

5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
It's okay to laugh, 29 November 2007

Author: anicita from United States

I saw this on the recommendation of a friend. I had never heard of it, but I was assured it was a good movie. Understanding the premise helps a lot, because this is a great movie and excellent concept. The beginning of the movie sets up the second half. In the first part, we see Leslie as human. He sometimes says creepy things, like when they begin to discuss his library of text books, mostly medical and anatomy. He makes a joke of this, saying these are necessary for the trade. He always refers to his need to kill as a profession and even has a mentor. Through them we see the world as if it were a game. The mockumentary parts are not only hilarious, we get to see the monsters side of things. The door that won't stay open? Probably rigged. Those ever-so-creepy newspaper articles the main character always seems to find at just the right moment? Those require more effort then the viewers might consider.

The second half of the movie is when we get to see Leslie in action. Because we have seen him as human in the first half, seeing him as a monster in the second isn't as scary as one might expect. It is not supposed to be. Leslie Vernon has become a person we know, who made us laugh, who keeps pet turtles. He is not some random resurrected guy with an axe to grind. He is a guy at work, albeit disgusting and immoral work, he is still a guy at work. Set up this way, it is a bit like watching two movies. The two parts play off each other very well.

This movie is darkly funny. No one wants to laugh as scary things happen, but when things work out just as Leslie predicts they will, even the "documentary" crew gets very enthusiastic.

Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger) read this script and was impressed. being a big name in horror, he admittedly gets swamped with scripts. This movie interested him enough that he accepted the role. If you can't decide if you should watch it, remember that. And then rent it, with friends.

Everyone needs someone to look up to. Leslie realized he will never reach the fame of Mike (Meyers), Chuckie or Freddy, but he is trying.

---

5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Wow, some people are stupid, 23 October 2007

Author: wsu_techie from United States

I love how people complain about the slasher part of this movie and their complaints are exactly what this movie was making fun of. These comments such as why didn't they run, why didn't they kill him, why don't they group together are all addressed in the documentary part of the film. This movie was genius because it shows you how the slashing will happen beforehand and the victims are victims because they are too stupid act properly against the killer's foreshadowing. That's the movie, that's what makes it funny. Although it's a slasher flick, it's not a serious slasher flick, at all.

Watch it again and you'll see why it's an awesome movie. It makes fun of the genre in a way that has never been done before. It doesn't steal from the Scream series. The Scream series made fun of the horror film in general, this movie pretended the killers in those films were real and makes fun of how stupid victims can be and how predictable the sequences are in a slasher situation.

---

6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Slasher fans should be pleased, 3 October 2007

Author: kakihara83 from Canada

It would be overestimating this movie to pretend it's the breath of fresh air that horror needed. However, in the saturated universe of slasher films, it is. It's not perfect like many enthusiastic fans claimed it was, but it sure doesn't suck and it's definitely worth a look for everyone who enjoyed the series involving Freddy, Jason and Michael. I personally thought it was a very clever, refreshing and surprisingly inventive slasher film. It makes fun of the genre like Scream did back in the 90s, with all due respect. Overall it's a very entertaining horror movie that can be viewed and appreciated more than once just for the fun of it. In my opinion, there are three underdeveloped aspects that made it fail to be a true masterpiece. First, I wish Robert Englund's character had a bigger part in the movie. Second I'd like to hear more about the mask and its symbolic. Finally the ''slasher act'' should have lasted at least 15 minutes more. Everything else is just perfect. I still strongly recommend Behind The Mask and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If Scott Glosserman even plans to make a sequel, I'm ready to rock!!

---

1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Finally a horror film that re-imagines the conventions and spins a great tale, 22 April 2008

Author: MadBomber from United States

This is one of those rare gems that comes along and actually succeeds in using the modern "hip" film techniques, and churns out an enjoyable film. Behind the Mask was a pleasant surprise find for me. I was looking for a good scare, and the cinema I was at, had a poster for Lesley Vernon. I took the bait, and sat in a theater with two other people. Not knowing exactly what to expect, when the first act of Behind started, I was alarmed they chose to implement the "biography" style of filming. Utilizing a shaky hand held camera to investigate the back story of a killer known as Lesley Vernon. While this could have been a serious disaster, the film makers wisely choose to ham it up. They treat Lesley as a wise cracking slacker looking to make his mark on the world in a most unsavory way, by becoming the next big Slasher. And he merrily invites a film crew to document his travels along that path. He's fun, and outlandish, and never do we believer that this crazy fellow will truly succeed in becoming a monstrous Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers or any other pantheon of lifeless, lumbering terror. This is why the second act, filmed in standard cinema-scope is so effective. The second act plays out like the films of the aforementioned grandfathers of terror. It feels especially real because of the wackiness of the bio of the first act. Les's transformation is all the more real, because the audience feels as if they were viewing home movies in the first act, and then coming to the realization that his intentions were true from the start. All the more startling because of our preconceptions established in the first act. What could have been a horrible film by using the bio throughout, too gimmicky and "hip", or just another standard slasher film using the clichés of old, by using a cinema focus throughout, becomes a masterpiece by using these two techniques seamlessly spliced together.

---

1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Can You Survive This Horror Film?, 6 November 2007

Author: jamhorner from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This movie was not what I had originally thought it was, and I mean that in a good way, I thought that they would show Michael, Jason or Freddy but they didn't, however they did not need to. This movie would probably be the best horror satire since Wes Craven's Scream. The film follows a documentary crew who tapes the preparation and the sadistic ways of Leslie Vernon, who is a serial killer inspired by Michael, Jason and Freddy. I'll say for the record, this movie was scary at points, some good laughs, and an all around good mannered pseudo-horror-documentary.

The way that this movie was executed was genius. The documentary portion of the movie is acted and shot like Blair Witch, and had the feel and humor of Spinal Tap but when the movie transitions out of the documentary it leads into you typical horror film. Leslie, our anti-hero, goes through typical serial killer preparations and how he will play off his Halloween-like killings. He lists things like the Survivor-Girl, how he gets into shape for the kill, the cliché "door-closes-behind-cute-girl" thing is played off and the Ahab. All of these great elements make for one great satire. The film even makes mention to the sites of some of the most grisly murders like Elm Street and Camp Crystal Lake.

The acting is hard to compare or even criticize for that matter. When the documentary parts of the movie play out, the acting and the dialogue sound real, as if there was not script or rehearsal. When the documentary stops and the actual movie plays, the acting is so cheesy, but I don't think it was done on purpose, from what I see it's another element that adds to the satirical reference of old slasher flicks. As you can see, I can't say the acting sucks because in some way it was intentional.

However, there is always one bad egg in the dozen, or in this case maybe two. A minor thing that kind of bugged me was that this movie promotes two big stars (Robert Englund and Zelda Rubinstein) as if they were the greatest things since sliced bread. Of course, they are very well established for what they did in the 80's but they are hardly in the movie. This kind of thing always bugs me when movie flaunt a B or A list actor, when they are only in there for 5 minutes.

Another minor thing that bugged me was the lack of brutal killings. I was hoping for the camera crew to catch a glimpse of it and then pull out in utter disgust. I was hoping for something brutal or a least a slash, but they hardly show anything. Maybe I'm being cynical but it just bothered me a little.

Despite those two minor flaws, this film was a great mockumentry, ranking up there with Spinal Tap. It was humorous, scary at points, a great satire and very well designed. Those elements make up for the small things that irritated me. I would strongly recommend this film not just for horror aficionados but for those who want to know the ropes and quarks of 80's horror films. But I would watch this after Scream. All in all, it's a great film.

---

---

Page 1 of 8:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Plot synopsis	Ratings
Awards	External reviews	Official site
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user comments
Your vote history