Michael Scott
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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Collector's Edition
Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:
Movie:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Final Score:

Scream Factory (a sub set of Shout Factory) continues on with their tradition of re-releasing catalog films from the major studios in nice, new, collector’s editions with spiffy new extras and new video remasters. I was actually a bit surprised at this one, as normally Shout/Scream release titles from Universal, MGM and the occasional other minor studio, but this is the first time that I can recall them re-releasing a film from Starz/Anchor Bay. Well, I won’t complain as Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon was one of the most fun movies of 2006 that I never actually saw (well, until much later that is). I’m going to admit something silly. I never watched Behind the Mask until about 2012 (ish) for a very silly reason. I hated the cover art. It looked really cheesy and low budget, so I wrote it off as one of Anchor Bay’s garbage films and just passed it over. Even back in the heyday of Blu-ray’s rise when the film was being sold for $5 to entice new viewers, I just said “nah” and passed it on by. It wasn’t until about 5 or 6 years ago when a friend of mine looked at me like I was CRAZY after mentioning that I’d never seen it, and forced me to watch it that I really gained an appreciation for the film.
Much like Cabin in the Woods, Behind the Mask is a love letter to the horror genre, but done so in different ways. While Cabin in the Woods was pretty much an allegorical Joss Whedon love/hate letter to the genre, Behind the Mask is a faux documentary that really gives homage to all of the slashers that came before it. Acting as if Jason, Freddy, Michael Meyers and Chucky were all REAL people, we follow a news crew around as they go to interview Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel), who has invited them over to document his PRE-slasher self before going on the start of his (soon to be) legendary rein of terror. The documentary follows the seemingly “normal” man around as he chats philosophically about the meaning of life, the desire to slaughter teenagers for no apparent reason, dances around his psychiatrist (amusingly played by famed horror legend Robert Englund), all while planning his murder spree that is coming up.
Behind the Mask is a wonderfully tongue in cheek homage to all of the famous slashers. The film doesn’t just act as a slasher itself, but carefully deconstructs all of the little cliches and nuances of what makes a slasher a GOOD slasher. Leslie himself is one of the first terror villains that we actually see BEFORE he dresses up in a costume and starts hacking teenagers and villagers left and right, so it acts as a strange window into the soul of the mysterious nature of these types of villains. The winks and nods to the genre are pretty obvious at first, but after the 2nd or 3rd watching you realize just how much is hidden beneath the surface. The more hardened of a horror aficionado you are, the more you’re going to get out of the film, as there is just soooooooooo many delicious little homages built into the experience.
Like all horror movies, Behind the Mask lives and breathes through the characters on screen. The blatant mix of nobodies and horror legends (like Robert Englund) really works on a visceral level, but it’s really Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon that really sells the film. He OWNS the character and you get a kick out of watching his bizarre and slightly unnerving “normal” life man as he slowly sinks into the twisted nightmare fuel that we all know and love from the slasher genre. It’s a movie that is slightly overhyped by the horror community (sorry guys), but is still a FANTASTIC watch if you’re at all into good old bloody slashers. The more of an aficionado that you are of the genre, the more you’re going to get out of it in my humble opinion.
Rating:
Rated R for horror violence, language, some sexual content and brief drug use
Video:

Audio:

Extras:

• Joys and Curses – interviews with actors Angela Goethals, Ben Pace and co-writer/co-producer David Stieve
• Before the Mask: The Comic Book – an interview with comic book artist Nathan Thomas Milliner
• Audio commentary with co-writer/director Scott Glosserman, moderated by filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch
• Audio commentary with Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Britain Spelling and Ben Pace
• The Making of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon featurette
• The Casting of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon featurette
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
Final Score:

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is one of the best slashers that you’ve never heard of before. World of mouth was huge back in the day (something I had to research as I passed it by so many times that I had ignored most of the initial buzz) and the movie was well received by fans, but largely forgotten about by most mass market viewers. Scream Factory has done the best it can with the rickety source material for a collector’s edition, but have balanced out the limited audio/video increases with some new extras and a great new collector’s edition cover art and slipcover (the original cover art is once again available on the reverse side of the insert). Fans will have to decide if upgrading is worth it due to the slightly better audio and video and extras, but overall, it is has made enough leaps and bounds over the Anchor Bay release for me to actually consider it. Great watch, and solid collector’s edition.
Technical Specifications:
Starring: Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund
Directed by: Scott Glosserman
Written by: Scott Glosserman, David J. Stieve
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: English
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 92 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: March 27th, 2018
Recommendation: Great Watch