Saturday, October 05, 2013

31 Days of Halloween - Day 5 - Movie 2


In a world where cinematic slashers, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddie Krueger are all real, a team of young journalists are invited to document the latest masked killer, Leslie Vernon as he prepares for his big night of killing, little expecting that they'll end up participating in his murder spree.

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) starts out promising as vernon breaks down all of the clichés of slasher movies explaining how they are all accomplished as he prepares for his special night of murder. Everything from the importance of cardio, selecting his victims, preparing the staging area by pre-scoring props so that they'll break when used, and getting the victims to go where he wants them to when he wants them to, are all cleverly and humorously covered. This mockumentary which makes up the first two-thirds of the movie could only be improved by being a bit shorter. Unfortunately, when the mockumentary stops and transitions into the night all of the preparation has gone towards, the movie turns into exactly the kind of slasher movie that this was lovingly poking fun at.  Instead of a succession of things either not going according to plan, or Vernon's own expectations being turned against him, it just transpires as a bunch of lame teenagers getting killed one by one. Leslie with the mask on is nowhere near as fun or interesting as Leslie without the mask. It should have maintained its witty tone throughout.



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