Check This One Out! - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Check This One Out! - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Taylor Gentry: "That boy is about to seek revenge over the town that muredered him. He knows this, he says, because he himself is the heir apparent to that throne of terror so long held by the likes of Voorhees, Myers, and Krueger. This man's name is Leslie Vernon."

    Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is directed by Scott Glosserman (The Truth Below) and stars Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon, Angela Goethals as Taylor Gentry, Scott Wilson as Eugene, Robert Englund as Doc Halloran, Zelda Rubinstein as Mrs. Collinwood, Bridgett Newton as Jamie, Ben Pace as Doug, Kate Miner as Kelly, Britain Spellings as Todd, Krissy Carlson as Lauren, Hart Turner as Shane, and Travis Zariwny as Dr. Meuller.

Ladies and gentlemen, the new crazy guy with a mask!

     Leslie Vernon is inspired by all the pop culture slashers in films like Jason (Friday the 13th), Freddy (Nightmare on Elm Street), and Michael Myers (Halloween) so he decides to let the audience take a peek through what a slasher, like those killers, has to do to prepare to go on his murderous spree. The way he lets us through the looking glass is by way of documentary. He invites a film crew, led by Taylor Gentry, to follow him around and capture all of the details leading to the night he makes himself legendary. This is an original take on the slasher genre and, dare I say, a bloody good one!

Whoa. This is super meta. Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Leslie Vernon. This is literally insane!

    I've taken a break from recommending the beautiful to now recommending the gory and beautiful. Time and time again, modern slasher movies have tried to make a name for themselves, but it never turns out the way they, or we as an audience, want it to be. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a fantastic twist on the slasher genre and, my God, I'm so happy that these kinds of films get to see an audience, even if it's a small one. This film is considered a horror cult classic because, c'mon, have you really heard of this movie? The majority of you will probably say no. That's totally alright, but now I've told you. Please see this movie if you like originality in cinema! Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is filmed as a narrative movie would be filmed (with spurts of handheld), but what is so strange and creative is that it doesn't play out like a traditional slasher flick until the end. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed watching this movie from start to end and that is mostly due to Leslie Vernon himself. He is such a compelling character. Not in a protagonist way, obviously, but in a mysterious way. You can see it everything he does, from his silent and care-free mannerisms when he kills the innocent to his breakdowns of slasher movies (i.e. how the killers kill everyone just in time, how they get from place to place so fast, etc.). What Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon can offer you is something that not many movies, that I can think of off the top of my head, can offer you: an original take on horror films. If you haven't read my review of Don't Breathe, which came out to theaters a couple of weeks ago, then you should know that originality is something that I love in horror movies. This is mainly because it's so hard to do nowadays. This movie was made in 2006, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that Leslie Vernon is weird, crazy, interesting, and cool.

Not the old lady!

     For those who love horror films, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is one you should definitely watch. For those who don't like the same old s**t that Hollywood is spewing out over and over again, this is one that I can, without a doubt, tell you that this film is original AND fun. The only people I don't recommend this film to are children. There are two main reasons: there are references made to older horror films such as Evil Dead, Hellraiser, Poltergeist, The Shining, and more, which would all fly past their little heads, and there is just enough violence, language, and sex to persuade parents not to show this to their young ones.

Plus, Leslie would for sure give your kids nightmares. He's f***ing crazy!

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is rated R for horror violence, language, some sexual content and brief drug use

Click here to watch the trailer

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is now available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital download

    Thank you for reading, everybody! I really do appreciate it. Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on Facebook and Twitter to receive updates on new reviews and trailer drops. Also, if you've already seen Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, comment and let me know what you think of it. I'll post another Check This One Out! next week. Thanks again!