On one Friday night in Hollywood I attended the midnight screening of Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. The cast was in attendance, the theater was full with film fans, and a horror legend graced all with his presence. The film is complete with plot twists and bloody action. Read on as I tell the story of my night, review the film, and ask what is scarier; the seen or the unseen?
Bamf here rematerializing from the void..
What irony. As I sit to write I have my ipod on shuffle. To my surprise the song that comes up first is Bach’s “Toccata in D Minor”, best known as the bit played by the masked pianist, err, organist in Phantom of the Opera. Supposedly irony died on 911, so let’s just call this synchronicity. Maybe if this was a review for Bridge to Terabithia, then Hanson’s “MMM-bop” would have come on; perhaps that’s too much information as to what is on my playlist. This is instead my review for the horror mock-umentary, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, co written by Scott Glosserman and David Stieve with Glosserman directing as well. This film is the definition of independent cinema. The script process began in 2001, filmed in one month in 2004, and the editing fell complete in early 2006. When Glosserman was asked in the Q and A why it took so long his answer was simple. “No Studio interference”. When you have no suits putting the deadline on your work, you are most free to act as slowly and deliberately as you would like.
Ok, confession time. Horror films are not my genre. I have pretty much stopped watching them save for being dragged out to the cinema by a group of girls at the office to see Silent Hill where I sat for an hour and a half to see barbed wire go up a woman’s pachango. How enlightening. Before that it was What Lies Beneath, Zemeckis’s throwback to Hitchcockian thrillers, which I truly enjoyed. But it was Event Horizon that really put the nail in the coffin for me as I twisted and squirmed with my hat over my eyes afraid of what I may be subjected to next. I invest fully in a film. Because of this horrors just sap way too much energy from me and my suspension of disbelief works far too well in those situations. I’ve never seen a Romero film, loved Scream, and found it far to scary to watch John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut. Dismembered members give me the willies.
Besides the fact that I get far too antsy during a horror film, it’s the nuances that annoy me the most--those horror clichés that only serve to be enhanced by a sharp music or foley cue. For me the scariest parts of a story, the most demented icy hand up the crevices of your spine while you lay in bed, are what happen off camera. True horrors are the ones that the audience makes up in their head. Seven (I refuse to write Se7en) comes to mind, as the implication of how a murder was executed is more demented then the shock of seeing it happen. Think of the scene in Silence of the Lambs when Clarice is previewed to what Dr. Lecter had done to a nurse who let her guard down. She is shown a picture of the nurses’ face, a view the audience never is shown, but her reaction gives you all the fodder to recreate the image in your head. BTM:TROLV takes those horror conventions, the plot devices and the debonair wanton violence and looks at it from a self aware perspective that is hilarious and scary all at the same time.
If you have seen such mock-umentaries before like This is Spinal Tap or my personal favorite Fear of a Black Hat, then you know the presentation of the story. The film exists in a world where, Freddy, Jason, and Michael Meyers are all very real. Taylor Gentry (Angela Goethals, you saw her in Home Alone years ago) is a college student who is making a documentary on the new breed of psychopathic serial killers whom are attempting to fill the void of their long since retired idols. The subject of her expose is Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel) who walks her through his iniquitous underworld revealing the tricks of the trade and the true convictions on why a killer kills. Baesel is absolutely a triumph in casting. The first person you should think of when seeing him is The State alumni Michael Ian Black, but he goes beyond that description. Although Leslie Vernon has a rather flaccid name, his convictions on why he does what he does, as well as why he only has turtles as pets, is what makes him so deliciously evil.
What makes this film so special and unique is the ensemble cast that successfully blends scripted dialogue with witty improvisation. BTM is another one of those experiences I went into with no preconceived notion as to what it was going to be about. The screening was in Hollywood, the cast, director, and co-writer all were in the audience. As said before, since horrors aren’t my genre I normally wouldn’t think twice about going. But since last week I passed on the opportunity to meet the band Avenged Seven Fold at an after party because I was working early the next morning. I made a commitment to myself that if I couldn’t do it in Alaska, then I had to do it here. I don’t want to miss on another chance like that again. Had I skipped this screening I would have missed the chance to meet horror icon and Justice League contributor Robert Englund. Ya, Freddy was there. It was a little awkward when shaking his hand, considering I have never seen A Nightmare on Elm Street, but you just know when you are around someone who is passionate about a film, their life, and standing at the threshold of a new talents awakening. Englund was infectiously ecstatic about BTM. Perhaps a little drunk as well, but it was Friday night in Hollywood, what better place to tie one on?
I really don’t want to go into the specifics of the film anymore then I have as to divulge anymore would only turn this into an IMDB synopsis. As I so often do, this is a review of the experience I had that night, the exploration of ideas presented by the film, and I can only share in good conscience what Englund had to say near the close of a midnight screening as the clock neared 3 am.
“...support what this crew has accomplished. They did something special here.”
And I can only support that point. The people that went to Hollywood that night were avid horror fans, future filmmakers, and humble review writers. In the cue while we waited to be let in from the outside, a trendy couple came upon the line thinking that it was a holding area for some new, hip club. The sign at the beginning indicated it was for the cinema, and the girl could be heard in her short black dress with tacky black cowboy boots,
“Ohhhh, what’s this line for?”
The man responded,
“Probably a line starting for Starwars 25, nerds.”
Everyone heard him, and there was this slightly awkward moment when everyone had a personal examination of why they were there. For me it was for the love of film, and exposure to something I’ve never done before. After the couple moved on and commenced to make out in plain view of everyone, conversations started again amongst the gathering crowd--discussions of chance meetings with producers and directors, how someone plans to finish their third act scene, and why going HD digital is more cost effective then black and white film. I was in heaven. If you are a horror fan then BTM will give you geeky chills as you take in the diatribes and death. Even if you are not a horror fan like myself, this film is completely accessible to you. If it is in a theatre check it out, or find it on DVD. I had my hat ready to cover my eyes; instead I was wiping them from tears invoked by laughter. When you here a line like,
“Paradise Lost?”
-Leslie picks out a book from a shelf
“Found it!”
In context it kills, trust me. The end of the night had the assembled crew thanking and re-thanking the audience for coming out on a Friday night. Calls to see the movie echoed about. And Freddy himself had one last thing to say.
“Tell your friends to see this movie, come out and buy us a drink, hell have sex with us! In fact, I’ll even put on the glove!”