Day 27: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Somehow, somehow, this recent-ish one managed to get away... Which is surprising because I’m usually all over a slasher movie that gets a half-decent review anywhere. As it happens, Behind the Mask has had plenty of favourable write-ups, but something must’ve been holding me back because I still haven’t seen it. Perfect stuff for Sham Shocktober, then.

My problem might be that it’s not immediately obvious from the reviews and publicity how far down the path of comedy this film goes. I mean, I heart comedy and I double-heart horror, but mixing the two doesn’t always produce hearty results (though you should never let anyone tell you that Haunted Honeymoon is anything less than a masterpiece).

From the sound of things, Behind the Mask follows, in documentary fashion, the preparations made by a wannabe serial killer for his big night of slaughter in a small town. We’ve seen film crews following psychos before (Man Bites Dog) and we’ve also seen comedic Jason Voorhees copycats (Freak Out) but a middle ground between those two movies is hard to imagine: the former is as bleak and nasty as they get, while the latter is so low-budget it would actually look like a documentary if it weren’t so silly.

So someone please tell me: what will I find when I look behind this mask?