Movie Review: Behind the Mask-The Rise of Leslie Vernon

It's always a rush when you watch a film that you know very little about, sort of an off the beaten path kind of film, and find yourself bowled over after watching the movie. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is one of those films. This was a Netflix rental that I threw on the PS2 in my upstairs attic at around 10 pm on Wednesday night. I figured I would get a feel for the flick, and would most likely watch a bit and then return to it on the weekend. The movie had other ideas. The actors were great, especially the leads, Nathan Baesal (Leslie Vernon), Robert Englund (yeah, Freddy, one of many entertaining additions to a film about an aspiring psycho slasher, providing that very tongue in cheek meta-fictional feel that I love). Of course, being the dude I am, I had to include a pic of the super talented and incredibly attractive, (in a very approachable type of persona) Angela Goethals.

As always, I refuse to lay down too much of the plot. The basic idea is Angela Goethals, playing a grad student documentary filmmaker named Taylor, shows up with her "crew" (2 guys for camera and sound) and visit with Leslie Vernon, who begins to show the crew his meticulous preparation in order to have a successful killing rampage. As a viewer, you find yourself completely engrossed but also confused as to exactly where all of this is going - trust me, it is well worth the trip the filmmaker and his cast take you on. Incredibly well acted, very clever without being obnoxious, this will be added to the DVD shelf without a second thought. It's rare that an unknown quantity makes that kind of jump for me, but this film is well worth it. Bonus is that the director/co-writer/producer of the film, Scott Glosserman, comes off as such a nice, cool guy to hang out with in the making of documentary included on the disc. Unlike Eli Roth, who often comes off as an obnoxious frat boy, Glosserman seems to be super positive, liked by his cast, and comfortable managing the chaos and stress of a smaller, indie film.

Highly, highly recommended!