Nathan Baesel, Matt Bolt, Jenafer Brown

On the surface, Leslie Vernon seems like your average small town, nice guy. He has goals, ambition and aspirations to follow in the footsteps of his long-time hero Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and Ja...( read more  read more... )son Vorhees, and be the world's next great psycho-slasher. A true self-promoter, Leslie gives documentary filmmaker Taylor Gentry and her crew exclusive access to his life as he plans and executes his next great reign of terror over the sleepy town of Glen Echo, all the while deconstructing the constructions and archetypes of the horror genre for them.

Flixster Users

73% liked it

10,558 ratings

Critics

74% liked it

34 critics

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Directed by: Scott Glosserman

Release Date: October 13, 2006

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DVD Release Date: July 6, 2004

Stats: 1,590 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,590)


  • October 9, 2009
    A great concept, not very well executed (no pun intended).

    This would have been more enjoyable as an actual "dark comedy", but it never really progesses past "dusk". Which makes it feel (at times) more like an attempt at a "edgy" new puplic television series (CW or FOX perha...( read more)ps?) then an actual film.

    There is some really ammusing writing (especially for fans of the horror genre), but it's never quite as clever as it presumes to be.



    I just felt like the finished product could have been a lot better.
  • April 5, 2009
    imaginitive and creative. Two things usually missing from horror movies today.
  • March 22, 2009
    A documentary crew records the efforts of a guy trying to be the next slasher movie icon. This has a good premise as a skit or series of skits on SNL or Youtube. As a film though it's not funny enough to be a satire and not enough action or gore to be a slasher entry. So, who's t...( read more)he demographic for this?

    I don't know. Don't filmmakers usually have to provide something like that to financial partners and distribution companies? Apparently not in this case. So, if you're intrigued by the premise here, skip this and go to the far superior foriegn film Man Bites Dog. You'll be glad you did.
  • February 21, 2009
    I heard about the plot of Behind the Mask and became really interested. A documentary crew follows an up and coming masked murderer on his preparations for his first slaughter and how he got to that point. I was expecting a dark, menacing film that would be an interesting take in...( read more) the slasher film phenomenon. What I got was a fan film. A cheap fan film at that.

    Behind the Mask does follow Leslie Vernon and his work in creating a night of slaughter, but it's more of a self parody film than an actual scary flick. The star seems to be a low rent rip off of Dane Cook, which is sad unto itself. With a lackluster script, poor direction, actors that couldn't get hired for a Friday the 13th, and the array of horror icon cameos, this is a fan boy film that disguises itself behind a mask. Marketing makes this look better than it actually is. If the film had actually been funny it would have been worth it, but it seems just like a spoiled effort on what is actually a good idea.
  • June 20, 2008
    A new benchmark for slasher films. I love the self-referential genre film, especially one executed as nicely as this one (all puns intended). I hope this is the start of a gagillion Les movies. Dark, ironic, and revealing in theme, the story flows well. I found the killer to be g...( read more)enuinely scary, both in art design and character pschology.
  • October 30, 2009
    I shouldve known this movie was gonna suck when it said Leslie was being filmed by a documentary filmmaker but I rented it anyway cauz the cover looked cool.The start of this film is VERY boring but when it started to pick up-I just didnt care & turned it off
  • August 28, 2009
    Behind the Mask is a satirical reversal of the slasher genre which cleverly follows the conventions of horror film killers in a faux documentary style. For the most part it's a humorous elaboration of Jamie Kennedy's "rules of slasher films" speech from Scream. The second half th...( read more)ough, in trying to surprise the viewer with a sudden switch into an "actual" horror film becomes itself rather ordinary and predictable. It tries to be a sort of textbook on slasher films but towards the end it spends too much time actually being one, and does so poorly. One problem is that after playing with the various "rules" it tries to scare the viewer with what they already know. We already know the killer (he's a funny guy) and we already know what he's going to do, which this movie cleverly illustrates at the beginning.
    As a whole it's a refreshing and fairly original concept, and an enjoyable film, but they should have tried harder to create a more shocking juxtaposition and changed the rules instead of just having a straight forward twist that does nothing to accentuate the tone of the first 2/3's of the film. This was definitely on the right track and could have been a classic dark-comedy genre twist had it not been so schizophrenic in its identity in the second half.
  • August 19, 2009
    Man Bites Dog, US style. And more. For me this is the Unforgiven of Slasher movies. OK so I didn't like Unforgiven, bnut that's not the point.

    Following a truly engaging Nather Baesel as the up and coming serial killer Leslie Vernon allows us to take an entertaining look at eve...( read more)ry cliche in the slasher book, and flip it without the annoying sarcasm. Now that Dexter is already in our lives, there is no reason to shy away from this little gem.

    How brilliantly twisted is this movie ?
    Let's say that It's to Scream, what Scream is to the slasher genre. I know that makes no sense. But I would easily trade 2 sequels of Leslie for Part 4 to 6 of the previous.

    Thanks for the Outside the Cinema podcast for putting me on to this.
  • August 15, 2009
    A terrific blend of hilarity and horror. I would love a sequel!
  • August 1, 2009
    While it moved a bit slowly in the start, I padded the score a bit for the impact the termonology has had on disucssion of slasher films. While the movie holds up in terms of story, and who wouldn't love robert england

Critic Reviews


August 9, 2007
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Other than displaying a textbook awareness of its ancestors, Behind the Mask offers next to nothing full review

March 23, 2007
Kurt Loder, MTV

Unfortunately, we've seen this jolly inventory of slasher-flick clichés before, in other parodies dating back to "Scream." And with not much new to contribute, "Behind the Mask" starts running out of ... full review

March 16, 2007
Kyle Smith, New York Post

The script's laughs are too widely spaced. Even before the plot takes a third-act turn into the land of kill-by-the-numbers slasher movies, the jokes drip when they should be gushing. full review

March 16, 2007
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

The dialogue has wit, and the rug gets pulled out from under us and the characters in several short, sharp jolts. At a certain point, Behind the Mask loses the tatty digital-video and immerses us in c... full review

March 5, 2007
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Working in a mini-genre whose bones would appear to have been picked clean by the likes of Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven, Glosserman and Stieve find a few pints of fresh blood. full review

View more Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon Trivia

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Lesl... Trivia


  • In Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, what book does Leslie Vernon find in the library?  Answer »
  • Who was not among the influences of Leslie Vernon in Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie VernonAnswer »
  • Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon- The first time Eugene and his wife are being interviewed by Taylor, which of the following objects can be seen on a table?  Answer »

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