Behind the Mask - The Deconstruction of the Slasher Film

Sidney Prescott: You sick fucks. You've seen one too many movies!
Billy: Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!
--Scream (1996)

It was hard not to think of Wes Craven's polarizing parody slasher while watching Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006). Both films deconstruct the slasher film in their own ways but are also rather similar in the point of cleverly poking fun at the genre without being too similar... yet I think they feel like relatives, both stylishly presenting the material in a way that captures your attention, truly understands the genre and what has endured about it, and gets the audience involved by convincing us that despite conveying the knowledge outright that the conventions are known, "calling them out before our eyes and ears", these two films still feature the tenets of the genre we so know and love.


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Being under the weather, I had jotted down dialogue pieces I liked and thoughts while watching Leslie Vernon that stood out to me in the past few days which I will present here:

If this is where I reappear, I can’t obviously be seen mowing the lawn…

Says psychopath Leslie Vernon, all giggly and playful with documentarian, Taylor.

Leslie quips and dialogue pieces:

Step Number 1: I need an anchor for my legend.

The night is still as death…you can still hear my mother’s body swinging in the trees. I’m just kidding…I’m just kidding.

We learn from the killer himself that cardio is the key to being good at what he does…because you have to be physically fit in order to make it look like you are walking while the prey is running! 

When they run like a gazelle, good cardio and intensive work outs help to stay in shape and chase down those victims without being winded! Leslie mentions while sweating and out of breath: “It’s tough, man. Its tough.”  Leslie has sweated a workout while punching a punching bag!

Here’s the thing about Beyond the Mask: it knows what it is talking about (or parodying lovingly) and has such a good time following the particulars from a comic mockumentary surreality point of view. To me, this is what found footage can accomplish if the right minds and heart are behind the approach and its material.

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So we spend time with Leslie as the crew does following him. He charts this course and the challenge of the documentarians is to see if they are willing to follow him into the abyss.

“Alright kids, we are the point of no return. You can bag it and go home with a clear conscience or you can come inside. What’s it gonna be…stay or go.”

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 “Paradise Lost? Found it.”

This had to have been ad-libbed. It was well-timed, just the same.

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There some slasher films which kind of allow you to spend time with them (both Maniac movies come to mind as well as Don’t Answer the Phone!), but few really want to. Most slasher films probably couldn’t sustain their length if we actually followed them instead of the victims. Formula is formula, I guess. But this film wants to and without the right kind of actor, it could have failed. But I think the casting of Leslie Vernon was a home run. Actor knows what the material asks for and plays it to the hilt. Leslie loves doing what he does, all of the hard work and the payoff. Instead of the big investment, like some Wall Street Wolf, Leslie lives for the kill. Englund’s trenchcoat hunter is Leslie’s “Ahab” and to see him celebrate, this is a grand success to him! Who is a killer without the great white hunter chasing after him??? It is all rather bizarre. Seeing Scott Wilson as his aging serial killer mentor (obviously inspired casting thanks to In Cold Blood) living it up as Leslie celebrates is so surreal, it could only function as comedy in a parody like Behind the Mask.

“It’s so sadistic, yet…genius.”-Taylor

“Thank you.”-Leslie Vernon

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“It’s convention, Tay…you have to respect it.”

“This is like my Christmas…is you don’t stop and appreciate it, it goes by so quick.”

“Holy shit! This is really happening!”