 Thank you for checking out this no spoilers movie review This is for the 2006 film behind the mask the rise of Leslie Vernon Which is currently streaming on the shutter streaming service for horror all things horror If you don't have shutter at the moment, please drop everything and go get shutter Not because they're paying me or anything because they're not I just really like it and it's cheap for what you're getting to be honest But this is about behind the mask the rise of Leslie Vernon now. This is a 2006 film Like I said, I believe that I saw it not long after it originally came out I am pretty sure it never got a theatrical release. It was just a 2 DVD at that point and I think it has a blue blue blue ray release now, although I don't have it currently I just have it on DVD, but I was able to watch it on shutter so better quality, which was nice So it was written and directed by a man by the name of Scott Glosserman who actually hasn't done a whole lot else film-wise The biggest name in this film obviously is Robert England who has a relatively substantial role Substantial ish role for a big name in a small film like this. I will say Kane Hatter shows up briefly I forget her name at the moment the but the woman who is in Poltergeist who has the very distinctive voice since she's short I'm pretty sure she's not alive anymore. I think she passed away some years ago, but she's in that as well and does a good job Excuse me geez Um, I thought Robert England was pretty solid in his role He didn't have a ton of speaking lines, but what he did in the film I thought was cool also just to have him in it because this is a film that's about slasher's It's it's kind of a meta slasher film in a sense But I'll get more into that in a little bit the film is actually supposed to have taken place in Maryland the events of it I actually live in Maryland So I was like oh cool and then I found out actually the whole thing was shot in Oregon So I was like oh well Why couldn't you just shoot it in Maryland if it's supposed to be in Maryland as opposed to Oregon? My assumption would have to do with price of Filming that that's what I'm guessing or where people live that could also be it Locations were not secured before filming for this So some of them actually ended up changing apparently which ended up Meaning that some of the change there were some changes that were actually done to the script Really on the fly now watching the film. I'm not sure if you if you keep that in mind I don't know if you'd really be able to pick up on much Much of anything not feeling like it fits because everything feels like it fits So when I found that information I was kind of surprised because everything seems intentional It all seems like it flows. It goes together properly and all that. I'm sorry my collar is a little messed up Came from work. Anyway, so Um, yeah, I was surprised. So the fact that they had to make changes on the fly But it doesn't feel like that when you watch the film Excellent job. That just shows that they're really good at adapting Uh, a sequel was actually in the works. Uh, actually, I believe it was completely Finished by glosserman the script that is But he abandoned it because he believed the script is too outdated now Due to a bunch of trends that have happened within Horror so basically he wrote the script finished it by the time he got it done He looked at the horror film pantheon or what was going well not pantheon because that'd be the past He looked at what was going on in horror films at that time and he kind of looked at the script and he was like It's not current for what it should be if i'm releasing it in the current horror climate So I would have to go back and update it and from what I was reading. He's basically said I don't feel like updating it. So there is not going to be a sequel even though for years It was said there's gonna be a sequel there's gonna be a sequel because there was because he was legitimately working on it So I was pretty bummed to read that he basically just was just like I quit Um To be honest like I think you should just make the film though Like if he has the funding if he can secure that funding He should just make that film no matter how outdated the script is because people don't really care that much Especially if it's going to go straight to like video on demand or if it's going to end up with Um just a blu-ray release whatever like it doesn't have to go theatrical just release it people will People will like it no matter what there are plenty of films that are done now They're supposed to feel like they're older That's a fine thing I feel like this is where maybe shutter should step in and approach glosserman and be like Look, we're streaming behind the mask. We would We know a lot of people who are who are very much interested in a sequel to this Let's work together. Let's make this happen and just put it directly on shutter. Make it a shutter original. Let's do this No, I don't know. Okay. We'll find out. Let's do it. I would like that Okay, so I like that they start with the with the particular scene that they do The main reason being that uh being that the scene Kind of gets peaks your interest and you're kind of like what's going on This seems like a very typical kind of slasher ish thing going on Which is obviously intentional and then the cool thing is you get to see that scene later Not all that much later, but you get to see it later From a different angle. It's the same things happening But you see a different side of what's going on and I think that's a really cool way to open things up Show it the one way How it is as a normal kind of slasher and then show the other side of it a little bit later when it's revealed What this is which is a mockumentary style film it's no big surprise with this film because it's in the synopsis that uh it is Um a film that focuses on a mockumentary that's following a guy who's a serial killer who's basically trying to create A mythological killer kind of like a jace vorhees a michael miers So on and so on so um Mockumentary style where they're following them and you would wonder You know going into it if you before seeing this film or seeing any other films that are kind of mockumentary that are horror Which I don't really know of that many Put some comments down here people. Uh, if you know other mockumentary horror films put it down there I feel like mockumentary Within horror is kind of a bit close to found footage But there's a big difference where I feel like the pacing is usually a lot better with the mockumentary because it's assumed That whoever's filming it is then editing it to put it together and additionally there's a lot more um Like less shaky cam and stuff like that because it's not someone like running around with the camera Although in this they do kind of run with a camera from like here and there, but um, I just feel like overall for me personally I like the mockumentary style more than the found footage so You know just a little side tangent there, but But yeah, so I like how they started out the humor. I think is at a pretty much perfect level That's for the style of film as well as the actual story of it One of the things I like the most is that the person in this Film who's playing leslie vernan the guy who's supposed to be this mythological or supernatural killer um, he's Funny, he's quirky and he doesn't at all at least initially seem Sinister or menacing or dangerous at all like he just seems like a fun nice quirky energetic dude who makes a lot of jokes and I think that really adds to The charm of this film because because it like pulls you in Kind of like it's pulling the people who are doing the documentary in to this false sense of uh comfort in a sense because It it makes you like you know who the guy is but through his actions and how he talks and jokes around and everything you start to Not feel like that's who he is as it goes on Which is this false sense of safety for the audience and people involved in the film So I just like how they played that they did a really good job with it Plus his character being like that is just funny because it's this juxtaposition of he's this hardcore terrible killer Who's trying to murder many many people? But look how he is when he doesn't step into that persona basically. He's just like this funny fun loving Uh good guy. So it's weird. It's like how do you reconcile these two things? Which you know with actual killers in real life a lot of times they have two sides You know You'll it'll be revealed who these people were and then people will come out of the woodwork and be like How is that even possible the way I knew this person was they were like this Dennis raider the btk killer was a perfect example of that. He was considered to be like a pillar of his community yet. He was Murdering a lot of people. Um, so you kind of always have that so a lot of things in this film actually feel true to life But even More importantly, they feel true to the slasher genre Uh touches on a bunch of like slasher commonalities slasher trope set slasher symbolism And it rolls it in but it also makes fun of it at the same time And then also tries to twist it around as well, which is one of the things I really like about this film I feel like for that reason it's kind of inventive. It's new. It's kind of doing its own thing And that's one of the things I like about this film So, uh, yeah, um already talked about that These are the types of great. What if story ideas that true horror fans come up with? So I just feel like So many times when I'm watching a film a horror film in particular I'll start looking at the premise in the story and and other what if like scenarios will pop out of my head And I'm like, well, what if I take this story and this happens instead? Or what if with this style of horror film? We you know, someone did this because it's not been done before like this film feels like Scott Glosserman was watching a slasher And the script that you get for this is what was playing in his head. He was like, uh, you know What if we did this or what if things were like this and I just really like that because it feels Horror fan ask, you know, it feels like the film the script All of it is is from the heart of a true horror fan And it just oozes of that and that's one of the other things that I feel like gives it so much charm And maybe why a lot of people do like it because I know a lot of people who do like it who have seen it Um, so all the aspects of well-known slashers come up in this like I was talking about Uh, and being seen from a different angle Is actually very satisfying with that like I was saying, you know It has the tropes the symbolism the commonalities of a lot of slasher films But then it tries to do its own thing, but it's also looking at it from a different Um perspective. It's kind of more of What happens if Um, these supernatural killers weren't actually supernatural But people believed them to be how would that get pulled off? Like what's the behind the scenes is why it's called behind the mask And it's just a cool fresh take on a film like this and it works really well and it's really fun I already talked about the personality mismatch. Uh, there's some good commentary about the simplicity of causing fear In the past and how it gets more complicated over time basically. So there's um There's a portion where they kind of reminisce one of the characters reminisces about how You know the supernatural killers used to be which It really is just talking about horror in general the horror genre in general how it used to be and how it used to be A lot more simplistic of stories and a lot easier to scare people and up the fear factor And as time goes on they're always coming up with new ways to do things and make it a lot more complicated There's so much more planning involved as they kind of say And this this person kind of opines for the olden days of just simple Ratching up fear and doing it in a very easy But kind of primal way and I thought that was cool That's a little bit of a commentary on the fact that people always feel like you have to keep like ratcheting and ratcheting and ratcheting up Horror and changing it which you know this character is basically saying you don't really have to do Why can't we leave things the way they were some people like that some people don't you know So there's a mix of actually the documentary style or mockumentary style footage with actual kind of theatrical shooting which When you think about the concept of putting those two things together in a film like this it really shouldn't work But it does work. It actually ends up being a little bit seamless Like you do notice that the style of the camera changes But within the story it just fits and you just kind of go with it It does work, which I think is a pretty good accomplishment to be honest The film explaining. Okay. I already talked about the the The slasher tropes and symbolism, but what I didn't say about it is that it actually explains a lot So if you're a person going into this film watching behind the mask and you've watched a lot of slashers But you don't sit there and really think about it think about the symbolism and tropes and everything like that This movie actually outright will talk about in interpretation of how you should watch A slasher film and break it down, which is kind of funny because It makes it a very meta film. So it's meta about itself. It's basically explaining itself Which is really weird if any other film done in a different way Would do that it probably wouldn't work and people would roll their eyes at it But the way it's done here it really works Um, and then the last thing I have to say about it is that the end is great um, there there's kind of Twist-ish thing that happens that I think is really good, especially within the context of The story as it's been created and how it plays out Um, so yeah, uh, I quite like this film if you can't tell it is quite good. It's not, you know, a perfect film It's not the best thing ever, but I really enjoy it. I think it's For its time for 2006 it's pretty groundbreaking for what it was doing I know it wasn't super successful then, but I don't think it took a whole lot of time for it to kind of Uh build a cult following Because I feel like it does have that correct me if I'm wrong put a comment down there, but okay, so thinking about this I'm between two numbers on this because I do my five star rating with half stars in play Um, I'm gonna go ahead and give it a four star rating I don't think I'm between a four and a four and a half But I don't think it quite makes it to that four and a half mark it is quite a good film, but it's not like Four and a half quality. I'm gonna give it a four really good rating. I don't give a whole lot of those out fours to fives I don't give a whole lot of it out. So Yeah, really recommend it catch it on shutter worlds there right now Anyway, if you could really help me out just hit that subscribe. That's the big thing for me I'm doing these things for free at the moment Although if you do want to pay me for it, you can do that throw like one dollar at me Just check out my patreon. You can just search carlin cook or you can do horror movie reviews with carlin cook I'm on patreon. There's some other tiers, but you know if you just want to throw one dollar a month That's awesome. It's not a whole lot. So But I appreciate it. But the big thing is hit the subscribe really appreciate that also put some comments down there Let's talk about this film other horror films I love to interact with people about horror because I don't get to talk to that many people in my Regular life about horror films because a lot of people kind of look at you weird or at least me I don't know how you guys are but anyway, thanks everyone for checking this out And until next time keep it brutal