Spook Out! Day 2 ~ Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Amazon Says...
"The next great psycho horror slasher has given a documentary crew exclusive access to his life as he plans his reign of terror over the sleepy town of Glen Echo."

I Say...
Dopey twits don't think through implausible opportunity to film the exploits of a serial-killer-in-the-making. (To my great delight.)

Horror Type...
Comedic horror, black comedy, mockumentary.

Main Players...
Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon / Leslie Mancuso (He's the serial killer? Really?)
Angela Goethals as Taylor Gentry (Curiously Naive Journalist)
Kate Lang Johnson as Kelly (Leslie's Dream "Survivor Girl")

I liked...

• the earnestness with which the documentary film crew approaches this study of a wannabe murderer
• the boyish enthusiasm of said wannabe and how he eagerly explains Serial Killer Practicum 101 to the crew
• the deliciously dry gruesomeness of this Christopher-Guest-style mockumentary
• that Scott Wilson, the actor who played the wise and kindly Hershel Greene on The Walking Dead, here portrays a retired serial killer who serves as affable mentor to Leslie Vernon (Hah!)
• that everybody's favorite striped-shirt-wearing nightmare, Robert Englund, plays the wise and kindly psychiatrist who treated young Leslie and has a bad feeling about all this...
• how in the third act things smoothly shift from mockumentary to straight-up horror movie

The Meh...
I honestly can't think of one thing about Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon that chaffed my chaps, although I can't help being critical of a film crew who considers the moral implications of standing by while some guy slices and dices others only after he's already started doing it. Comedic-horror flicks are my catnip, so I really just heart this one. (SPOILER ALERT: More so, probs, than the expendable-guy-in-the-movie who literally got his heart handed to him after it was pulled from his chest.)

Would I recommend it...?

Heck yes, I would! I'm already looking forward to watching it again!

Miscellany...

Freaking Hershel Greene! A retired serial killer! (Double Hah!!)

Ratings...

My Grade: A
Rotten Tomatoes Scores: Tomatometer=76%, Audience Score=75%

Details, Schmeetails...

I Watched Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon on Amazon (the Rotten Tomatoes page linked above provides links to other host sites)

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon's IMDb Page

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon's Wikipedia Page (Contains Spoilers)

This concludes Day 2 of...