Genre fans can be notoriously critical. A somewhat ironic statement I know, but true none the less. I am in awe of people who can create a film(s) being their vision and put it out there at the mercy of public opinion but more dauntingly, the opinion of their peers. Fortunately for us horror filmmakers tend to be a brave breed. Thankfully I find the horror community to be a fairly understanding bunch. They can appreciate the effort and find the honesty of films shining through in spite of poor effects, limited budgets, no name actors etc. Perhaps the one exception to this is horror/comedy. We love our genre whole heartedly and don't appreciate it being disrespected. Any chance Tyler Perry will read this?
Most horror films have an element of comedy to them, whether intended or not. Some films do this balancing act beautifully, Return of The Living Dead, Re-Animator, and Evil Dead 2 are prime examples. Some I feel lean too far into comedy and don't satisfy horror fans who just want something on the lighter side but still genre. Some strive for pure horror but fall woefully short and become unintentional riot fests which we enjoy but lack the substance we desire. 2006's Behind The Mask The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a difficult one to categorize, but it's undeniably a great watch. While it can be argued it's not a"true" horror movie I wouldn't call it a horror/comedy either. Behind The Mask borders on being a mockumentary but a more apt description is that it is just a great film. It does exactly what we all want a movie to do, it draws you in and makes forget about everything else. Its a great escape and has garnered repeated viewings from myself ever since I discovered it.
The film stars Nathan Baesel as Lelise Vernon, an aspiring slasher who is planning his jump from small town legend to reality. Angela Goethals is an fledgling documentarian who Leslie has allowed "behind the scenes" to view and record his plans and processes. Scott Wilson (Walking Dead) and Robert Englund (needs no explanation) have roles in case you need more credibility to convince you to watch. The film is a great mix of humour and darkness with some 80's slasher nostalgia thrown in. The acting is well done and the story flows effortlessly. Clocking in around 90 minutes its not long before the twist of the ending is revealed and pure horror satisfaction is obtained. This is a great movie of all tastes of horror lovers and even non-horror lovers. Again it is just a very well done film and worthy of a watch. It has become one of my staples in my vast rotation of go to movies. It satisfies horror fans dark side of "Oh ya, that's how I would have done that too!" Just do me a favor and don't get caught taking notes.
For fans of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, the witty mockumentary that deconstructs the slasher film, this news may be a bit unbelievable. As greatly received as it was, distributors have slammed the door on this budding slasher. So what else can Scott Glosserman do? Turn to the fans of course.
“I had a very rude awakening when I called the distributor of the first film and said ‘We’re ready to go with the sequel.’ And they said not only forget about financing but that if I brought them a finished movie, if I handed a finished movie to them, they would not even distribute it for a fee. It just blew me away. I figured of anybody they must know how well Behind The Mask has been accepted. It did a great number on DVD,” says Glosserman. “We sold mid six figure units on the original DVD and if half of those people spend twenty bucks pre-ordering the second film then we’ve raised more than a million dollars. So, in theory, we could crowd fund the movie. I know that’s probably not a fully realistic possibility but, nonetheless, it’s fun to set a goal to be the first movie ever to crowd fund more than a million dollars. That’s our benchmark. At worst what we’re trying to do is demonstrate a groundswell of online community support and, in so doing, we want to demonstrate that there are several thousand people who have pre-ordered the DVD and we’ve got several thousand Facebook friends and if I can take that – with a fully baked script and a couple of cameos – to a Lionsgate, who are already making original two million dollar films, it just seems to me that it would be a no brainer that they would finance this film.”
So get out there and help this project. Glosserman has already proven that Leslie Vernon is the man but he can't bring him back without your help. I for one intend on helping where I can and I hope that my readers will do the same. Click here to find out more info and let's get this thing done!!
