The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 23 days to go.
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a genre-bending love letter to the classic slashers of the 70s and 80s. It’s a film that successfully pays homage to the horror genre and all of its conventions. While at the same time it (playfully) mocks slice-em-up thrillers and their most damning clichés.
Set in a world where Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers are all real-life killers, this mockumentary centers on an aspiring journalist named Taylor (Angela Goethals), who is working on a student film about the next up-and-coming killer: Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel). For her documentary, Taylor interviews the would-be serial slasher as he prepares for his massacre, hoping to discover what makes a horror villain tick.
Ignoring the fact that Leslie Vernon died as a child, Taylor and her crew simply accept that the subject they’re interviewing is the real deal: some type of resurrected monster hell-bent on revenge. Besides his inclination for killing folk though, Vernon is the humble everyman. And it’s hilarious to watch him casually prepare for his night of murderous mischief. The majority of this film follows Leslie as he gets everything ready at his childhood home, where high school seniors spend the night once a year. He nails windows shut so they can’t be opened, and sabotages potential weapons on the property, like axes and shovels, so they’ll break on their first swing.
Film Road to Halloween: Crawl (2019)
The film’s self-awareness is charming and fun, and horror fans will be tested to spot numerous easter-egg callbacks to some of the most renowned thrillers of all time. Some references are more obvious than others, including cameo appearances from Poltergiest’s Zelda Rubinstein and even an appearance by Freddy Kreuger himself, Robert Englund.
Behind the Mask is also meta with its use of horror terminology. Using language like ‘Survivor Girl’, ‘Ahab’, and ‘Red Herring’ to establish all the conventions Leslie needs to adhere to on his spree. The film even gets academic at times, debating the implied meaning behind visual metaphors featured consistently in slasher movies.
In the film’s final act, Behind the Mask switches gears dramatically and in an unforgettable way. There’s an incredibly effective tonal shift that changes the movie’s narrative drive entirely. When this switch gets flipped, the film escalates and joins its predecessors as a true horror classic.
Behind the Mask is a remarkable, mind-melding movie that defines convention and then proceeds to defy it. It’s a smart, funny, and unique take on the slasher film, with plenty of fresh perspectives to offer up to its audience. So if you’re a horror fan and you haven’t seen it, this Halloween season may be the perfect time to do so. And if you have seen it, well, then it’s about time you saw it again.
By the way gorefans – after thirteen years, there’s rumors of a sequel in the works! Keep your eyes peeled for Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon…
