This is without doubt the most thoroughly enjoyable, intelligent and insightful horror film I have seen in years and it is the most knowingly ironic, self-referential film I have seen since Scream.
The film begins as Taylor Gentry and her documentary film crew meets Leslie Vernon, a fledgling serial killer. The crew follows Leslie as he plans his reign of terror on some high school students, with both insightful and hilarious results. Shifting between DV cam documentary footage and shot on film horror action, Behind the Mask features a wonderful cast of largely unknown talents (with the exception of Robert Englund and Zelda Rubenstein, who all horror fans will know).
I was in awe of the opening scenes as we see locations made infamous by classic horror movies such as Halloween and A Nightmare on Elm Street (as well as an appearance by Kane Hodder) and was quickly sucked in by Nathan Baesel’s portrayal of our titular character. The chemistry between the leads is amazing and the supporting cast are all great too.
The film has a great atmosphere full of fun frolicks and unexpected moments and also has some poetic moments too.
Behind the Mask is one of the best films I’ve seen in years! The film is so clever it’s scary and it is quite frankly an outrage that this doesn’t have a wide theatrical release. I do however understand that only a select audience (hardcore horror fans) will get it, so can understand why it has a limited release.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Behind the Mask is the most original horror film I have seen in the past decade. See it now!
