If you're a slasher movie fan, skip the rest of this review and just go watch this movie. I don't think you will regret it.
For those of you are still with me, the premise of Behind the Mask is that, in a world where all the Halloween and Friday the 13th films actually happened, a small documentary film crew has arranged to film the training and preparations of one Leslie Vernon, who has ambitions to be the next great slasher-killer. He has agreed to take them through his training regimen and explain how he will engineer and execute his kills, and in return they have agreed not to interfere in his murderous plans.
Now that's not a deal I would make, and I hope you wouldn't either. But Leslie is a seemingly friendly and quite personable fellow, and while his intended murders remain just an intention, our trio of tele-journalists actually find themselves enjoying taking part in his elaborate machinations. Of course, whether they will still feel so blasé about things when the blood actually starts to spray is quite another matter ...
Behind the Mask is obviously made by people with a firm knowledge of the slasher genre, and I love the effort they have put into coherently explaining the conceits and foibles of such films. Just how does a killer who never seems to move faster than a walk keep getting in front of people who are running away?
I also love how straight they play their whole premise, however absurd it might be. For all that the film openly deconstructs slasher movies, no-one is winking at the camera when Leslie's rampage actually begins.
I very much enjoyed this.
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