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 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.
As someone who is very much not a fan of horror films, as I find them cliche and repetitive, "Behind the Mask" was actually a refreshing turn. I didn't see anything 'fan film'ish about it, aside from the fact that it actually manages to explain and validate the very plotholes that other Slashers annoyingly take for granted. Something even "Scream" failed to do in its self-awareness. There was definitely a lot of hamming going on in the 3rd act, sure, but not without intent. The teens were strawmen being used to drive home the point that these people behave predictably, and you could argue back and forth forever over whether or not that was warranted. But everything leading up to that is brilliant in its nuance, acting-wise. I didn't see Dane Cook's influence anywhere near this (and thank god...*shudder*).
ReplyDeleteI thought the humor was solid – everyone I watched the film with laughed at the same places I did too, so I'm not going out on a limb saying that either. How could you NOT laugh at, "Paradise Lost...found it!"?
What I'm getting at is I feel like we must have watched two completely different films. All I can think of is that you walked into this movie with a lot of baggage that you forgot to remove before experiencing it. Maybe your girlfriend left you or your dog died or something. Either that or I was high when I saw it. One or the other, but I don't smoke much anymore so I doubt it.