Review of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) by David B — 15 Feb 2009

[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]After recently watching the cliché-filled but fun ?Hatchet? and the well, just cliché-filled ?Friday the 13th? reboot, it was great to watch what?s (literally, though imaginary) ?Behind the Mask,? in this case, ?The Rise of Leslie Vernon.? The first half of the movie is great: a lot of humor, mentions of the other great slashers (even going as far as stating Freddy, Jason, Michael and Chucky are real life terrors) and an interesting take on how much prep work goes into to stalking and dicing young fools. I loved the homage to the other series on which this is based, including the characters treating the screen legends as heroes, the different names used: Frederick, Jay, Mike, etc and even going as far as to find identical locations to the other films. In addition, I liked the documentary take and the is-it-real-or-not mystery. Unfortunately, comes the second half, and if there was any question or mystery, it?s wiped clean and the actual clichés and predictable scenes pop up. Well, yeah, you get all you really need to know/learn from the first half, but I was enjoying myself, finding myself laugh out loud at a few scenes and lines, hoping that it might turn into another ?April Fool?s Day? or just continue with the faux pas documentary. I guess they felt a real movie was in order, so the light switch was hit and we fall into familiar (to slasher fans) grounds with a masked man stalking no-nothing young kids. Yet, it?s (mostly) original (at least to America,) downright hilarious, a neat trick/twist and a wonderful first half. Typically, the first half of any slasher is the set-up, where we learn the booooring backgrounds of the kids we never end up caring about. Finally, they made the buildup worth the whole package.[/color][/size][/font].

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[font=Calibri][size=3][color=#000000]Additional notes: I realize in any slasher film, it?s not wise to look too deep, but I can?t help myself. All the way through, I couldn?t think of how much the documentary crew would be in trouble ? i.e. accessories or at least, not reporting this all to the police. They could?ve easily been partially blamed for some of the carnage. Also, I liked how the director who seemed to want to thank everyone he?s ever met in the credits made sure you read all their names by extending the movie into (again, familiar and predictable territory) the final second of credits. Yes, you see what?s coming, but then again, they put a twist on it, a completely different POV. I liked that.[/color][/size][/font].