Behind the Mask: The Rise
of Leslie Vernon (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437857/?ref_=nv_sr_2
In between playing cookie
clicker (http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/),
I managed to find time to find time to write a review for Behind the Mask: The
Rise of Leslie Vernon. I saw this a few
years ago and remember really liking it but what I didn’t recall was how it
ended. Here’s what happened.
The movie starts with a
news report that takes place in a world where movie serial killers like Jason
Voorhees and Freddy Kruegar are real.
Already a cool concept. The
reporter is a woman named Taylor and she is doing a piece on who she believes
to be the next big slasher, Leslie Vernon.
His background story is that he was abused by his parents as a boy and
in returned killed them which caused the town to panic and throw him over a
waterfall resulting in his upcoming revenge.
The television crew stops
by Leslie’s house to meet him for the first time. He seems like a pretty normal and almost cool
dude, not a killer. Taylor asks him some
questions and eventually he says that his first big plan is to reappear at his
old house on the 20th anniversary of his death. That night will become the anchor for his legend. Next they show him working out and he tells
them that slashers need to have great cardio in order to be able to walk and
seem like they’re running.
Doesn't look like much of a killer
Once the interview at his
house is finished, Leslie takes the crew with him as he scouts out his target
group at the local high school. There he
describes who he is looking for and goes into detail about the all important
virgin survivor girl. That night he
takes them with him to the survivor girl he has picked out (Kelly) work where
he scares her a little.
"Now I'm going to go scare this girl while you stand here and look like you permanently have a runny nose"
Next everyone moves on to
some veteran serial killers who are friends and kind of mentors of Leslie. The guy is Hershel from the walking dead and
I have no idea who his wife is. Taylor
questions them a little Hershel says that they are in the fear business and not
serial killers. The world needs people
like them to keep a balance between good and evil.
Rick and Hershel never got this close
That night Leslie takes
the television team with him as he attempts to scare Kelly and kill the
librarian who is nice to her at the library where she frequents. Leslie plants a story there about how her
great uncle killed someone in his family to scare her a little. Everything goes according to plan meaning
Kelly is scared and the librarian gets murdered but also Robert Englund shows
up to protect the girl and shoots Leslie.
You would think that would worry Leslie but instead he is stoked saying
that Englund will only help to make his story better and the role that Englund
plays is referred to as the Ahab.
Her book was overdue
When the TV crew scouted
out Kelly before, Leslie made it clear that his only rule was not to speak to
her at any time because it could ruin anything.
Taylor wants to defy that rule and heads into the diner that Kelly works
out. Ahab spots them and asks Taylor
what they are doing here which makes her panic.
He then says that Leslie isn’t who they think he is and his real name is
Leslie Mancuso. Taylor leaves to a
pissed of Leslie in the parking lot and she isn’t too happy herself. She questions him about the Mancuso thing to
which her responds he really isn’t Leslie Vernon but it doesn’t matter all that
much because this is his life now. They
square everything over and put things in the past.
On the day before the big
night of murder, Leslie goes over what he will do with the camera crew step by
step. He finishes up his final
preparations like putting dead batteries in the flashlights and nailing the
windows shut. It’s really cool seeing
him explain what’s going to happen and crack jokes while doing.
Just getting a quick base
The night of the
anniversary arrives and Kelly along with seven of her friends sneak into
Leslie’s haunted house. Two of them go
up stairs to bang just like Leslie predicted and he sneaks into their room and
kills them. It’s at that moment where
everything becomes too real for Taylor and she starts to lose it. Leslie takes her and the crew outside and
kicks them out because he thinks they will interfere. Taylor wants him to do something else but
Leslie says that he has made his choice and goes over his role in the how good vs.
evil thing. They have a big good bye and
he heads back to the house.
Not too long after the
good bye Taylor says that the documentary is over and it’s time they stop
Leslie. They bust into the house to save
Kelly but find her banging her boyfriend, which means that she’s no
virgin. The camera crew all know
Leslie’s plan because he told them earlier that day so they decide to head
upstairs to throw off his schedule.
Oddly enough instead of finding the two dead people in the bed like they
planned they find nothing.
Should've been able to tell Kelly (left) wasn't a virgin
Two of the stoner’s head
out the shed and are killed by Leslie.
Everyone heads for the news van to make their escape only to find the
dead kids from the bed and the van doesn’t work. After heading back to the house, Kelly tests
her luck by jumping out of the second story window and dying. It’s at this moment when the three-piece
television crew realizes that Leslie’s plan has changed and they are now a part
of it. Leslie kills the first cameraman
and chases the two remaining kids along with Kelly and the other cameraman into
the barn.
Death from above! Good thing she wore underwear.
MOVIE WITH A TWIST
It’s in the barn where
Kelly has the breakthrough thought that it is really her that’s the survival
girl and it’s been that way all along.
This whole documentary thing was just a ploy to get close to her. Pretty cool twist. Ahab shows up to help but the cameraman
thinks he is Leslie and knocks him out with a shovel. The last two kids are killed along with the
cameraman and Ahab getting knocked out leaves Taylor alone with Leslie. She heads to the shed, grabs and ax and makes
her way into the apple orchard. There’s
a chase and then a fight where she catches him with the ax but it doesn’t kill
him. It was hard to watch this fight
because I didn’t know whom to root for.
They head into the cider room where more fighting takes place. Taylor eventually pins his head in the apple
masher and squishes it. After killing
him, Taylor lights the little building on fire and is joined by Ahab and the
cameraman. The end. The end credits show a security camera at a
morgue where Leslie pops up and isn’t dead at all
REAL THE END
There's a chase and she
catches him with the ax. Not dead. Don't know whom to root for. They fight it
out in the shed. She pins his head in the cider masher and squishes his head.
He says I knew you were the one. She lights the shed on fire. Cameraman and Ahab
show up. The end. End credits show him waking up in the morgue.
Favorite Scene: Easily
when Leslie goes through everything the kids are going to do through the
night. Writer was a real expert at these
slasher movies.
Memorable Lines: Nothing
too amazing
“Expert” Reviews: Mark
Rahner writes “About two-thirds in, the movie shifts gears disastrously.
Made me want to haul someone into the cutting room for revenge.” You’re 2/3
retarded Mark.
Nick Schager says, “Other than displaying a textbook
awareness of its ancestors, Behind the Mask offers next to nothing,” I think
you missed the whole point Nick.
Rating: 8.1 Twix. I
loved this movie. It was funny and
clever. The acting isn’t anything
amazing but it’s all about the writing in this one. If you’re a fan of slasher movies than you
should love this. Even Robert Englund is
in it.
Alternate Ending: Spoilers.
The only thing I would change is have the other cameraman die. Oh and add a part where Taylor is knocked out
at the end and Leslie fights with Ahab some more.
What I would do if I were the main character: Pick a
different school project. Maybe do a
report on the national parks or something.
What happens in the sequel: They are working on getting
everything set up for a prequel right now called B4TM (Before the Mask). They have been trying to get it done for a
while and I hope it happens some day.
T.E.
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