Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

2006 "Freddy, Jason, Michael. We All Need Someone To Look Up To."
6.7| 1h32m| R| en| More Info
Released: 16 March 2006 Released
Producted By: Code Entertainment
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

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.

Watch Online

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Scott Glosserman

Production Companies

Code Entertainment

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Audience Reviews

Animenter There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.
Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.
Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Cory I felt compelled to write a review for this movie. I just have to say that this was such a fun movie to watch. It was so funny and the entire time it had me fully engaged and loving it. I recommend this movie to all. Watch it and have a good time.
thiszizlife The outfits in this film don't match a college documentary looking stereotype wardrobe. And, yes, I'm aware they made this on a shoestring budget, and they weren't thinking about that. For instance, the red trim of the windows, that makes my point look obvious. What were these actors and actresses told by the director, that's what I want to know. Where they told to scream and act nuts, or was some of that improv. Pointless subplots hang around every corner in a film like this, and this is no exception. For example, the batteries ... who cares? Why put dead batteries in the flashlights in the first place, and not just remove them completely? This is truly behind the scenes to the making of "Behind The Mask." I don't know a lot about this film, as far as where they filmed it, but it already makes me what to say, C' on dude, a farmhouse setting, really? It's been done a thousand times before. What were these guys thinking? We are going to make some cool art and turn it in for an A. Essentially, all it is is a tour of a horror set, at least, in the beginning, and then tips on what goes into, and how to make a horror slasher film. This holds back from an absence of horror, and we see the masked scythe welding lunatic a lot throughout the film, gracing us with his pleasures. Like a reoccurring nightmare ride, you can't get rid of Leslie Vernon. This film directed by Scott Glosserman has something for everybody. The idea is good, and the cast is fun to hangout with. And after a certain period the film takes a turn from an actual student project to the real deal. This creates the much needed tension, the spice to the food, if you will. A different mood surfaces in us, a suspension of disbelief is born, not only in  viewers, but as well as in the people on screen. So there you have it. A film complete with melodrama, tension and suspense, perfectly placed, in some places by Glosserman, as if he was laying out objects for a still-life painting. Also, I should mention the custom design of Leslie Vernon worked, but had we not learned who he was and what his aim was, it would have been all the more macabre. Okay, I took that last bit from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I particularly enjoyed the effort of the crew. There references to Halloween, etc, that made the movie less serious, and gave good chuckle. This one was a little more hard core to handle though, opposed to Beetlejuice, or say A Werewolf in London, but I'm sure horror comedy fans would love it.
Tajanator I have always been a fan of horror movies. Even as a small child I would sneak into the living room, and peer from behind the couch at the Freddie movie that the adults were watching. I still really enjoy all of the old 80s horror movies with the infamous larger- than-life serial killer.As an adult I also became a fan of mockumentaries. This is Spinal Tap, and Best in Show both brought to life the genius of Christopher Guest and introduced the world to documentaries gone mad. As a genre, it is typically only comedies that it showfronts.This movie merges the two genres but not in the way they'd have you believe. The movie begins with an interview between a very green newb journalist who seems to be doing a college project of some sorts. She wants to interview Leslie Vernon who believes himself the new Jason Voorhees, the new Freddie Kruger. As interesting interview subjects go, you can't really tell as the viewer if this guy is just a giant douche bag, or if they are just poking fun at the movie serial killer genre as a whole. Are we meant to take him seriously as he describes how to stalk and get-to-know his newest obsession, his proposed subject?Then something amazing happens. After his description of how to be a killer, the movie shifts entirely. Enter music, effects, dramatic acting, and all things you would expect from a horror movie. The movie, which was a shaky-cam low budget documentary, becomes a horror movie – if only for a scene while his plan (previously described to you in detail) sets into action.And this is how the movie plays out. We cut from documentary style to horror movie and back and forth until his movie and story are told. Its akin to watching a horror movie DVD special edition – if all the behind the scenes were cut into the film itself.Its not something I have ever seen before or since. And it was worth every single minute.
GL84 Hoping for an exclusive look at serial killers, a film crew follows a fanatical killer as he prepares to slaughter a group of small-town teens before getting caught up in their ethics and try to stop his rampage.This was an utterly enjoyable slasher effort. One of the more impressive aspects of this one is the fact that there's plenty of utterly clever send-ups of what's at stake in a slasher film that aren't all that obvious which gets spelled out here. From the pointing out the clique that gets targeted to all the pre-attack tormenting that takes place around the town, training and working out for the chase as well as the behind-the-scenes planning for the whole event at the location and how to plan out a typical slasher-film style battle is all unique and quite original in concept and execution. Both of those areas are explored fully in here as the attempt to explain the thinking behind what is obviously a heat-of-the-moment type of situation that doesn't really inspire a lot of thinking when it really comes down to it makes for a rather engaging series of events throughout here as he goes about his plans. The actual execution of the plan, both in the early attack scene at the library as well as the ambushes at the diner make for some rather great stuff, while the big moment here is the actual final stalking of the group in the house as the crew attempts to help them deconstruct the evening before it happens as they try to stop him from going after the group and killing them which is all done in fine fashion with a lot to like here throughout this with a lot of explosive stalking, fantastic action and plenty of wonderful deconstructions of the slasher film norms that allows for a frenetic sequence that's tense, chilling and quite fun. While some of the stuff doesn't work here, namely the fact that this is supposed to be funny when it clearly isn't as the comedy instead comes from the absurdity of the situation rather than anything really done in the film itself so it can get rather annoying thinking this is funny when it really isn't, and as well the fact that the majority of the gore comes off-screen does get old a little fast. Otherwise, this was a rather impressive and enjoyable outing.Rated R: Language, Violence, Brief Nudity, a mild sex scene and drug use.