We return to the slasher format for our fourth episode in our Halloween horror parody series. Here we tackle Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which attempts to see the slasher film from the killer’s perspective, giving some pointed examples of the reasoning behind slasher films with its meta commentary while at the same time offering up half of a real slasher film in its own right. We talk about the jokes, the allure of a killer like Leslie Vernon, and how well the films plays off the slasher tropes. We’re also drinking Sierra Nevada’s 2025 Bigfoot barleywine-style ale!
Approximate timeline
0:00-10:00 Intro
10:00-20:00 Beer talk
20:00-end Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Hit that play button above to listen in.
Transcript – Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (auto-generated)
Click to expand the full transcript
0:04
Cookie Walk of Halloween horror over here, let Let the Black Run podcast All season long, September and October will be celebrating with creaky funny our parodies just bring your favourites from satirical splashes to classic parodies and even some rollback Spooks.
0:30
I’m even told evident to go sololy.
Rising from the dead.
Celebrate with us.
Welcome back from podcast as we dive into Halloween.
0:54
Hello, welcome back to the Blood and Bike Rum podcast.
I’m Ryan from coldsplatation.com and I’m joined with my Co host Smart.
How’s it going?
Well, it’s pretty good.
Pretty spooky in here.
Spooky funny, I should say.
We’re continuing Ha ha, Halloween that we started way back at the beginning of September.
1:13
And the approach to that has been to cover, you know, horror parodies or comedies, just anything in between.
You know, could be just a meta, meta film, could be, you know, actually trying striving to be funny.
1:31
And we’re kind of covering everything here and there.
Already covered things like Tucker and Dale versus evil.
You know, we’re going to be covering some of the more well recognized horror parodies in the coming weeks.
1:50
But today we are actually returning to another in the style of sort of slasher meta commentary, kind of, you know, comedy elements that we we had started with Tucker and Dale versus evil and Club Dread, which, you know, again, we just kind of took a break from that in the last episode with the Dead Don’t Die to cover something more zombie esque, you know, to get away from the slasher element.
2:20
But here we are returning right back to it, which is actually kind of, I mean, I would say a large amount of horror parodies actually centre around slashers to some extent.
It’s kind of the American Horror film of note for horror basically.
2:38
And for today’s episode, we’re covering one that we actually have not done very many in this style, which is the mockumentary style.
And I’ll let you as the historian, he which one what it really.
2:54
I think it’s the curator.
What does it say?
The curator and archivist of the show.
Absolutely.
Have we done any sort of like found footage mockumentary style films?
I can’t even Yes back.
3:11
Well, we’ve done my found footage.
We’ve done creep.
Oh yes, that’s right.
And we’ve done you should know this the, the mockumentary documentary, you should know that one.
It’s one of your, it’s one of your, it’s one of your favorite movies public.
3:34
Yes right.
The WNUF Halloween special yeah, I think is the one yes yes.
Oh, which is funny because I actually don’t really think of that one as like found footage, but it is.
I mean, it’s like.
But it’s a mockumentary.
Yeah, it’s a.
Mockumentary.
That’s that’s definitely for sure.
3:50
Yeah, that’s true.
So we did that one.
We haven’t done some of like the major styles in that.
Films in that style though, like The Blair Witch Project, we haven’t done Kind of surprising.
Well I I would be fine if we eventually tap that well, but I am not going down the paranormal activity rabbit hole.
4:12
You don’t want to do that one for 8 for like because that one was another big series that came out of nowhere saw in the Halloween season, right.
So like every year, just like Saw, there was a, they tried to do like another paranormal activity for a little while.
4:29
It didn’t have the staying power of SAW, but I do remember that.
And that was actually one that I never really got into like seeing on a yearly basis.
I’ve I think I’ve only see actually seen the first one in that series.
Sam, I’ve always I’ve only seen the first one and I don’t it’s like it’s like the purge.
4:51
It’s like, how do you?
How is this like a?
Contesting a lasting.
Franchise that people are still like every year that you know, that it’s diminishing returns.
Less and less people show up to the theater to see it, but there’s at least a couple enough lights on.
5:09
Yeah, the yeah, Well, I guess you know, and I think at a certain point, like you said, that did run its course because we have not really seen, you know, Paranormal Activity releasing anytime recently.
And I think it kind of ran its its course and.
5:26
Cut off now you just gave some dickhead producer an idea.
Yeah, bring it, bring it back.
Hey, we haven’t done a paranormal activity in three years, you know, because that’s what they do with SAW now, you know, bring it back.
We haven’t done it in a while.
5:42
Bring it back.
Yeah.
But so anyway, like, like I said, we haven’t done very many of those types of styles, but the one that we’re doing today is, you know, kind of a, I don’t, I, I don’t want to say it’s an unknown film, but it’s it’s not super highly recognized in the horror sphere, but at the same time did have a pretty cult following, especially among slasher fans.
6:11
And at a particular time when it came out it, it certainly did quite well for itself with, you know, home video and, and people recognizing that it was something a little bit different from the the usual slasher film or the meta commentary.
6:29
And again, it was during a time of many different found footage style films.
So, you know, again, it’s not like this film was a banner poster child for like the, you know, starting the found footage movement, but it’s it is a kind of a unique experience in that regard.
6:51
One that was kind of replicated just I think it was just last year with that other slasher movie that came out that was like from the perspective of the killer, which was it was like a found footage film in the perspective of the killer, which the name is escaping me.
7:09
I didn’t end up seeing it, but I think it came out last year.
Thanksgiving.
No, not that one.
Oh my bad, I thought it was I’m sure.
I’m sure if I look it up, I will be able to find it fairly quickly.
7:24
But again, like I said, the name is escaping me at this point.
But yeah, I think it just came out last year.
And so for for this one, we’re doing Behind the Mask, The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which is a 2006, I think it was.
7:46
Am I right?
Yes, yes, I am right.
Sorry, I’m just doing a quick check right now. 2006 film, which again, as we kind of talked about when we did Tucker and Dale movie, kind of wears its 2000s elements on its sleeve a little bit.
All of these movies, I feel like from the 2000s have like this very much particular trademark or stamp on them that feels like a 2000s movie.
8:13
I don’t know if you agree, but they have a very particular feel, a very specific way of like direction and filming.
I don’t know, especially slasher films of this time.
Well, our protagonist, his facial hair choice could only exist within 2003 to 2007.
8:34
That little, tiny little soul.
Catch.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Behind the mask it’s just I’d say.
No, I’ve never even, I’ve never even heard of it.
You know, I thought it was maybe like the how Jim Carrey really got into the role of the mask.
8:55
The the the documentary behind Jim Carrey’s The Man.
Or because it’s from 2006, you know, unfortunately Son of Mask came out around that time too.
You know, what’s the what movie?
Son of Mask.
That doesn’t exist.
Thank you.
9:11
Thank you for some for acknowledging.
Yeah.
But no, no, I had no idea what this was.
You just said for this week I’d like to do this.
It’s pretty fun.
And that’s it.
And after looking at the Wikipedia, it’s kind of reasonable why the hell has never been on my radar.
9:32
So.
Yeah, like like I was saying it’s, you know, it’s not particularly unknown.
Like if you, if you know horror fans, you know, they probably would have heard of Behind the Mask for the most part.
But it’s not like super recognized.
9:50
You know, it did get a fairly wide release, especially with Scream Factory doing the Blu-ray.
Probably, I don’t even know like 8 years ago I think it came out or something like that.
They released the Blu-ray of it.
I think there was at one point a pretty significant call to have like a sequel film or even a prequel film of this movie to kind of try to cement Leslie Vernon as sort of a, you know, a slasher staple.
10:17
Kind of like the film depicts him, you know, in the movie and kind of a play on the rest of the slasher cast of characters that you think of when you think of like the main monsters.
And that never came to fruition.
10:34
For whatever reason, there was never a sequel made to this movie.
But again, it had it’s a number of fans really.
And I think at the time when Scream Factory released this on Blu-ray, there was a lot of people that were actually very excited because this movie did not get like super wide release tonight.
10:52
I believe it just released to direct to video and you know, kind of it was the sort of like one of those Anchor Bay movies where people, you know, you might see it in the the video store, but you didn’t really think much of it because a lot of times those types of Anchor Bay movies were kind of shitty, for lack of a better word.
11:12
They were very low budget and not really worth your time.
And so I think that kind of was part of the problem with behind the mask.
But again, this movie does have quite a number of of names of note too, besides the fact that, like you know, it’s it’s main cast is kind of unknown.
11:29
But at the same time, it does pull in a number of actual horror franchise icons.
Like Robert Anglin’s in here really quickly.
Probably was only on set for like a day, but he’s here, you know, Blink blink and you’ll miss him in most scenes.
He wasn’t even, he wasn’t even asked, you know, to, he didn’t try out or anything.
11:50
He was just vacationing up in Oregon and like, you know, someone’s like, dude, there’s Robin England.
Either that or like hey.
Horror convention.
And they just pulled him aside and said, hey, we’re shooting this movie, it’d be great to have you in it for 5 minutes.
And he was like, sure.
12:06
And he’s like, as long as you pay for my stack of, you know, flapjacks ’cause they probably ran into a man.
A Flapjacks.
‘Cause he ran into a man.
Yeah, well, ran into a man, a nice hurry diner and he’s like paid for my flapjacks and coffee and you have a deal.
12:22
Damn right.
Cause again, this movie like was made on a $70,000 budget.
Yeah, under.
Hell, even under it’s got it down to what the hell, $69,136?
Like it was really working overtime.
Oh yeah, they’re.
12:38
Like get every penny like.
The producers want to know who bought that.
You know, McDonald’s, McDonald’s burger there.
I mean to be fair, back then, like a snack wrap cost $0.50.
12:53
Well, you can get like 20 snack wraps for this 10 man crew, you know, and it’s like catering like.
Add it down to the dollar.
Yeah.
So I mean, it, it was definitely low budget.
You could tell like when you’re watching it that you could tell like it’s shot on a fairly low budget.
13:13
Not in not in a bad way, just saying like you could tell based on the environments and the, the the you know, the Howard’s shot in the documentary style, the found footage.
A lot of times found footage, especially in these low budget features, it’s kind of used, not so much as a way to tell the story sometimes, but as a way to like actually produce the movie.
13:32
It’s like it’ll be much cheaper if we just call this found footage we’re shooting on a handheld camera.
You know, it’s that’s a lot cheaper than having to buy the film and, you know, edit it and all that stuff.
So but it not only does it have Robert England again, who probably was just at a horror convention and asked to do it and he agreed to it because he’s he did that sort of thing, especially, you know, back back in the 2000s.
14:02
Just like Kane hotter is in here too, really quick blinking.
You miss him.
You know, Jason from a couple of the Friday 13th again, he’s really quick like cameo at the beginning, but easier And Zelda Rubenstein as well from Poltergeist is here for like a couple scenes too.
14:22
So it’s kind of cool to see those, you know, Maine, those people come to this movie and kind of give it their lend it their name for the low budget element that it, you know, that it offers.
So before we take a break to talk about the beer, anything else you wanted to say about in the intro before we go move on?
14:44
No, I think you summed it up pretty well.
It’s.
Yeah.
The the little mockumentary that could.
That’s right.
And O&N and I’ve seen this a couple times.
Just to put that out there.
This is my pick and I thought it would be kind of a fun one to do.
So I’ve seen it a couple times.
15:00
This is probably my third or fourth time seeing it.
I have a Blu-ray and.
All that stuff.
All right, let’s talk about the beer that we got today.
It’s kind of a special one.
I think we’ve talked about this.
We like, we’ve talked between us about trying to spear numerous times.
15:19
We just never have before for whatever reason, just never, never picked it up.
It’s kind of expensive for what it is.
So it’s something that we just probably have never thought about getting.
But I was in the store and I saw it and I was like, you know what, that’s probably interesting.
15:34
It would also to the point that my son made me go into the store.
All he wanted to do was go into the cooler.
He just that’s, that’s it.
And I actually had no intention of buying any beer when I was going to the store.
But I do feel weird about walking in, seeing the guy that I know at the store and then being like, sorry, I’m, you know, I’m heading now and I’m, I didn’t feel like anything today.
15:58
And you’re not, you’re not wrong.
You know it’s.
It’s the same way over here, like, you know, if you walk into the store and it’s like how you doing today and it’s like I got I got to walk out or something.
Yeah.
It’s kind of the kind of the feeling that it got.
So I I saw this in the in the cooler and I was like, you know what, that’s actually pretty cool.
16:18
I think I might grab that and just give that a try.
Finally, you know, is the six pack for a not terrible price.
So I grabbed it, really interested in giving it a try.
It’s the Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.
They’re American barley wine style that they put out every year.
16:37
You know, it’s kind of put out with fanfare.
It’s sort of like they’re, you know, stout of the year type thing that other breweries do.
They do the Narwhal stout and they do the Bigfoot barley wine and they do those each year and they, they specifically label them the year that they are because, you know, again, they can have slight variations in their flavour and recipe every year.
17:04
We have never had a barley wine on this show.
I’ve had a couple of barley wines.
I’ve tried a couple like not full drinks, but I’ve had like samples of some and I’ve had a couple of actual barley wines that I’ve drank.
17:20
But how much have you had a barley wine?
As far as I know, none.
I would have to.
I would literally have to ground through untapped to see if I’ve checked into one.
And I can also say that I don’t have a really like, I’ve never really had a great understanding of, of what a barley wine is, except for the fact that it’s, you know, it’s obviously it’s not wine.
17:42
It is a beer.
It’s an ale.
It’s called a barley wine because of the high alcohol percentage on it that they generally have like, you know, like 9 to 12 is I think normally where they fall into.
And I guess the idea now is that the barley wine flavours have kind of broken off.
18:05
There’s the traditional like English style barley wine.
And then there is a like, as we always do, there’s an American style barley wine where we’re like, you know what, fuck those English.
Like we have our own way of making this beer.
We’re just going to do that instead, you know?
18:24
So Sierra Nevada’s is obviously the American style, which in this is news to me because I’ve never had an American style barley wine, but apparently it is just basically like hop to shit and heavily malted with like carmeling toffee style malts.
18:42
Do you think it’s hop to shit just because it’s Sierra Nevada and that’s why it’s like it’s an American?
Star Not from what I’ve seen about American barley wines like that’s it seems like that’s the prevalence of most American style barley wines is to like excessively hop them.
19:00
So I think that’s the I don’t know if that’s Sierra Nevada’s standard.
Like if they started that tradition, I’m not sure, you know, like did Bigfoot actually start what would be considered the American barley wine movement?
I don’t know.
I don’t really know the back story of that too well because again, this is my first American barley wine style.
19:20
I’ve never really had any any others to compare it to.
In this case, though, I actually I really enjoyed this Bigfoot.
You know, again, this is one of those beers that like if you if you are really big into like the extremely hoppy IBU high IBU imperial IP, as I think you would pretty much gravitate to the Bigfoot style barley wine because that is it’s pretty much how it is.
19:48
It’s like it’s kind of just an extension of an imperial IPA and maybe just hopped even a bit further a little bit more of like that toffee caramel note with the malts to kind of give it like a multi body.
And that’s kind of what it reminds me of is like an excessive imperial, like a double imperial IPA or something like that.
20:10
It’s kind of like the the idea that I would float to most people who don’t know what a barley wine is.
And I think it’s actually, you know, it’s pretty good.
It’s from Sierra Nevada.
Obviously Sierra Nevada makes really good imperial Ipas, like West Coast style Ipas.
20:26
I’ve never really had a bad imperial IPA from them.
I think this Bigfoot, it kind of solidifies that they do that very well.
They they kind of sit in that wheelhouse and they do it really well.
Another thing that this reminds me of is an ESB, the extra special bidder, which it is definitely a bit hoppier than what you would normally get from an extra special bidder, but it kind of has that like red IPA maltiness, carmeliness to it that reminds me of an extra special bidder.
20:59
So I think it sits in that kind of interesting place between an Imperial IPA and an ESBI.
Think it works really well.
I like it quite a bit.
I would definitely get this again.
I would try it again next year.
I think it has a high alcohol content and that’s on purpose.
21:19
So you definitely do taste the alcohol content in it.
So that can be kind of off putting for some people if they don’t really like that heavy alcohol taste.
But overall, I really like this beer.
I would I would definitely get it again.
How about you?
Yeah, it’s not bad at all.
21:35
I’m pleasantly surprised by.
I was expecting it to be like a strong ale very, you know, just alcohol, heat forward and that’s kind of it.
Maybe some, you know, very, you know, dried fruits like, you know, figs, plums and raisins.
21:56
And it’s not there, thank God.
So it’s definitely hoppy.
Like I said, wasn’t expecting that.
It’s like a cross between a Sierra Nevada Double IPA and something that’s like, as you said, an ESP would be a good, you know, comparison because you definitely get, you know, big get the breadiness of that caramelized malt at first.
22:28
And then it goes into like, you know, the big hot flavors because they do have like, you know, a Chinook and Cascade in there.
So it’s very, you know, bold and then it’s rounded off with a pretty strong alcohol taste.
It’s not like too off putting for me, but like it kind of just rounds it out.
22:48
It’s not bad.
Would I ever like go out of my way for this type of beer?
No, but it is you know, I think, you know, for a, you know, like January, February, December beer, yeah, something like to keep you warm.
23:04
Yeah, fine.
You know, but I would say try it if like if you’ve never tried the style before and it, it makes me want to try more barley wines, be a little bit more adventurous with that style.
But I overall, even though it’s OK, I, I would say it’s nothing that’s like for me personally.
23:30
Good to know.
All right, so let’s talk behind the mask, The rise of Leslie Vernon again.
This is a film that kind of so has that mockumentary element, a found footage style, and it pairs that with a slasher aesthetic.
23:49
It’s sort of the meta commentary that could be found in something like Scream, where it kind of tries to comment on the common slasher tropes.
And then I think it goes even a step further into trying to psychologize why those things are a part of the meta of slasher films, which I think it’s kind of interesting.
24:15
I think that’s like, you know, if if Scream basically tried to depict the meta commentary behind the choices that it’s characters make and sort of like nitpick the idea behind the slasher format, then behind the mask takes that a step further.
24:34
And it’s sort of from the killer’s perspective, takes a look at like their choices and why a slasher film is sort of might be designed the way it’s designed, right?
So like a lot of the killer’s choices, a lot of the the motive behind it, this film kind of takes a stab at parodying that and trying to identify what the killer is doing in those movies, like behind the scenes, basically, like you’re getting a little look literally behind the scenes of what the slasher is actually doing.
25:10
And I think that that’s pretty clever.
I think that, you know, Scott Glosserman does a pretty good job of setting this up at the beginning of the film because about the 1st 45 minutes or so is for, you know, basically just a sit down with the film’s main slasher character, Leslie Vernon, as a documentary crew kind of interviews him about his upcoming like particular massacre that he’s about to be partaking in.
25:40
What did you think about the that whole idea of like you’re setting it as a documentary?
I think it’s really cool, especially because it’s I was expecting at first it to be like kind of just like, oh, like what’s this guy?
26:01
You know, what’s he, what’s he doing?
You know, and like, you know, he’s kind of crazy and weird, but the movie sets up from the beginning that these, you know, famous, you know, slasher heroes are real.
26:20
And it’s like part of society and part of the culture and part of reality.
So this makes the whole idea of like, OK, behind the mask, you know, of the rise of Leslie Vernon, you know, that’s a cool idea.
26:38
Like, OK, like this is a world that that has known sociopath killers.
OK, there’s a guy that’s on the up and up, and he’s going to, you know, take you around and show you what he’s doing, how it all works.
And like, you know, like all the things that you’d probably be asking when you’re watching, you know, slasher film.
26:57
Good.
Why are you running there, you dumb bitch?
You know, he’s got all the answers for you.
So I think that’s, you know, that’s a fun, nifty, smart idea.
You know, they get a lot of mileage out of it.
Yeah, I mean, the IT kind of sets it up at the beginning.
27:15
You know, you have this documentary crew led by Angela Gotho’s character.
She’s basically looking to interview this guy who’s going to be doing this, you know, these series of killings.
She’s kind of interested in the psychology behind the slasher.
27:32
And I think the the beginning of the film really sets up the fact that like.
Yeah.
All of the other serial killers that we know of, Freddie, Jason, Michael, they all exist in this universe.
They, they all exist in this universe.
And everybody knows about them.
27:47
You know, they it’s kind of like the proliferation of serial killers throughout the ages.
And so the film kind of asks, you know, in that universe where they all exist, there will probably be some people who are like, why the fuck is this?
Why does it happen so often that we have like this legacy of serial killers, like returning to these crimes every year and not caught?
28:13
And I think that that’s kind of the idea behind the documentary is that she’s taken this on and said, like, well, let’s go interview somebody who can really answer that question of like, why would you do such a thing?
Why would like, why what?
What is making this occur?
And that’s a it’s a smart idea.
28:30
I think you know, first of all to we talked about this in the Dead Don’t Die too, to set it in a universe where people acknowledge and recognize that stuff like Halloween and Friday 13th are known.
The same idea with zombies where people, you know, and a lot of zombie movies are like zombies.
28:51
What is that?
Never heard of such a thing.
The Dead Rising from the grave.
I I don’t I don’t know what you’re talking about.
We’re.
Called gibbly gobbly wobbly wobbers, you know.
Yeah, we’ve just, we’ve just never had that thought before that that might happen.
And so I like the fact that this movie is kind of like tongue in cheek, just takes those at heart and says, okay, yes, all these things, even Chucky, which I think is funny, like because Leslie brings that up at one point, they’re like, even, you know, talk about Chucky.
29:17
Even Chucky exists in this universe of, of somewhat supernatural serial killers.
And, and so I think that’s kind of a smart idea to to take it at face value.
And so it makes sense then that they have this documentary crew and they’re a young crew.
29:32
It’s kind of like almost like a school project sort of thing that she’s taking on of, you know, documenting the serial killing.
I think it brings up a pretty interesting point throughout this film of, about journalism as well, especially in this scenario where it’s like, where’s the line where it’s too far, where you’re, you know, like at some point you’re implicated in this as well.
29:53
You’re not just an innocent bystander who’s like, we’re just, you know, we didn’t plan the murders.
We’ve just been documenting all of the murders and all of these things.
We, we, we, we were, we tagged along for the ride, but we, we didn’t do any of it.
And so there’s kind of that idea at play too, with the journalism aspect of like, where’s the line of like being in the war zone basically, like, you know, when is it too much?
30:21
And you should actually not be filming all the events that are happening or are you egging them on too?
Which I think, you know, is it an interesting aspect that doesn’t maybe get as much screen time as it should or it maybe would be advised.
30:42
But I still think it’s like a kind of an cool idea behind the the whole aspect of journalism here too.
But yeah, I think the the the really interesting part of this movie for me is like just the first probably 40 minutes where we just sit down and kind of go over in a documentary style.
31:04
The questions that people would have about you don’t how a slasher killer would go about the process of setting things up.
Because there, you know, when you think about slasher movies, there’s a lot of actual setup involved in the the reality of the film.
31:24
So a good example of that is like the actual posing of the bodies, right?
Like in every good slasher film, there’s a moment where the protagonist or protagonist stumble upon just the posed bodies of all their friends, you know, strung up and and displayed for them to to find strategically.
31:49
And I think behind the Mask kind of goes into that a little bit where Leslie Vernon gives his his, you know, his input or opinion on why he does what he does, which I think works really well for this movie too, because it’s I don’t know, but if you felt the same way, But it’s just kind of nice to like see the film, try to answer some of those questions that you might have when watching a slasher film where it’s like, oh, that doesn’t seem realistic.
32:16
You know, obviously you kind of tune out the realism in slasher films, in horror movies, you, you’re not always working in like a logical world, but it’s nice to have them try to explain those in a way that makes sense in the reality of the film.
32:34
I don’t know if you felt the same way, but.
Yeah, no, I think that’s, like I said, they get a lot of mileage on it.
And I think it’s a terrific idea because it makes it makes what they’re doing make like, you know, making this documentary trying to find out, you know, you know, like, oh, here’s another black guy that’s trying to make it on his own as a serial killer, Leslie Vernon.
32:58
You know, it gives it, it makes you, you know, pay attention to what’s actually going on.
And it’s just like, I think a really, you know, fun, you know, like, because again, they’re supposed to be like, what?
33:15
College students, right?
Yeah.
I think they’re making.
So they got like, you know, the electric camcorder and they’re sitting there, you know, and following them around and they’re like, he’s like, this is where I would do this.
And they’re like, oh, OK.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, so it’s you know, like I said, it’s a it’s a really fun idea.
33:38
Pleasantly surprised with how much fun I thought like, you know the idea.
Like after you know, things started going, like, you know, it had me the film, like sure, you know.
I I think that’s partially too like Nathan Basil, I think is how you say his name or yeah, he has a nice like rapport as well.
33:58
Like he just is very, he’s a perfect role, a person for that role in Leslie Vernon.
Are we sure that’s his name?
What Basil?
Is that not a pseudonym?
34:15
Because I think that’s Glenn Howerton.
Yeah, yeah, kind of does look similar.
Well, not only that, but the whole like, you know, psychopathic, you know, Dennis.
Yeah, things that they, you know that Dennis does.
34:31
And it’s always sunny and it’s like the seasons roll on and on right up there.
You know it’s.
Yeah, I think.
It could easily be Dennis, the Golden God.
He has like a really, I think just very leisurely, friendly composure to him that is kind of offset later on by this, you know, the whole he’s also serial killer type thing, which works really well because again, it’s really inviting to the audience.
35:04
A perfect embodiment of like a person that she would think of as sort of a sociopath who can pretend to be emotionally invested and very, you know, friendly and enamoured and then at the same time be completely aloof and and psychotic later on when he’s actually murdering people.
35:25
And, you know, he does a great job.
I think it’s a lot of the films success is creditable to him as being just, you know, a person who can hold the audience and be invested with this character, even though, you know, he’s about to do some, you know, heinous acts throughout.
35:46
And not only that too, but the, the, the Glee, the overall Glee that he has throughout the movie, like when he gets excited in the library and he’s, you know, he’s kind of like giddy and he’s like, you know, it’s almost like, you know, if, if you, if you don’t know what he’s actually going to do as like a serial killer, you might think like, oh, he’s just like really good at being like a, a guy who runs a haunted house or something.
36:11
You know, like he he could do a very good haunted house and scare a lot of people, but instead he’s, you know, murdering people instead.
But I think he’s like really one of the main draws.
And I think, you know, also Angela Gothos does a good job in the the other side of things where that being the very like sheepish and naive, you know, documentary journalist Diane Sawyer Stanton with the really kind of frumpy sweaters and stuff that she wears throughout or like the the gloves that she’s got on, I think.
36:47
I was thinking, I was, I was thinking more like Barbara Walters.
I was expecting her back hip hopper walkers.
Or like you kind of reminds me of like a Sally Jesse Raphael type thing too.
I don’t know, just, you know, I just, but I did.
37:04
I do think she does a good job because again, part of the charm of that is to kind of cement the idea, especially later on, that, you know, she has been the the target the whole time because she is that naive virginal type character that he’s been Leslie has been talking about the entire time.
37:24
I think the in again to, you know, with the red hair, that’s another sort of giveaway of like, you know, red redheads and evil to go together.
So and I think the both of those they do a really good job.
They have a good rapport with each other, nice relationship, you know, almost sort of like a, there’s like, sort of like this flirtatious relationship going on between them as well, where it’s sort of like she’s kind of enamoured with him, but then also recognizes that like the things that he’s doing are, you know, very, you know, amoral.
38:02
And so there’s that kind of give and take between them.
I I think that works really well and it kind of like facilitates the whole film.
One question I do have for you, though, is what do you think about Scott Wilson being here as Eugene, who is like this retired serial killer has kind of gotten away with it And he’s, you know, he’s supposedly like the best in class besides the the main guys like Michael and Freddie and.
38:29
Again, I love it and I think it gives the film a lot of fun, you know, elements too, because again, it’s we’re living in a world where like, you know, like all these, you know, killers are the norm.
And when like, they first go to their house and you see, he’s got a lovely wife wearing like, you know, you know, apron like, oh, come on in.
38:53
Like, oh, yeah, he’s out in his like, you know, his hyperbolic chamber out, you know, the backyard.
Like what?
And, you know, they started talking to him and he’s like, Oh, yeah, back in the day, you know, he’s about just hitting as many people and, you know, running away, you know?
39:10
Yeah.
It wasn’t about, you know, the gore and stuff, which gives me, you know, like a very, you know, Charles Manson and the guy from Black Christmas Vibes, you know?
Yeah, Billy, you know, because he talks about the, you know, wiping out his sorority.
39:30
But I think that like, you know, and it’s fun.
That’s a nifty little idea, like, because, you know, seeing Leslie have like, somebody’s like, oh, like, what should I do?
Oh, you should, you know, do this.
Should I?
39:45
I was thinking about taking them personal.
No, no, no, no.
You don’t want to take them out because it’s too close to them, too much heat.
What do they like to?
Do Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s a great idea.
Yeah.
You know, that’s like, you know, it’s just fun.
It’s just a really, you know, fun idea.
40:02
And really, that whole like bit in their house is hilarious.
Yeah, I mean, I think it works really well to have Scott Wilson here as sort of like a veteran as well.
You know, it just makes sense.
Cooking kielbasa on the grill.
Yeah, man it.
Looks big.
Everyone’s got big like everyone like they got.
40:19
I’m not like, who’s eating all that?
Well, I do love to that they just show Leslie just eating it straight like a piece of kielbasa in his hand.
He’s just chomping away at it, which is, you know, again, like I do like a kielbasa on a on a hot dog roll.
40:36
But at the same time, I can appreciate just going to town on a a full, full dog like that.
I, I can appreciate it both ways.
So I like that.
I like that little inclusion.
And I think they’re drinking Sierra Nevada as well, if I’m not mistaken.
40:54
I do you believe I saw that green label of the, the pale ale on there.
They, they do a pretty good job of hiding that because it’s, you know, they’re not sponsored or anything.
So this, and again, like you said, this film is exceedingly low budgeted.
41:13
Again too with the low budget thing, you can kind of see that because the film has really limited amounts of set pieces.
One of the things that looks like is they literally just filmed in like an abandoned house, you know, or an abandoned barn.
41:29
And so I think that all works to the film’s advantage though, because it does just feel very aesthetically real, probably because of the way that it, you know, it’s it’s just not budgeted.
They didn’t, they didn’t have to design this place.
41:45
It was just the way that it is and they used it.
So I really like that too.
You know, the whole feel of the movie works really well.
Now, I do want to ask you this film, you know, for a good portion of it is documentary style footage, but at times it does shift away from that and go more into a strategically actually like directed and filmed and edited version of events.
42:10
Almost like in, you know, in most documentaries that would be called something like, you know, a depiction, right?
They would say like, oh, this is, you know, this is a, you know, a stylized version of events and we’ve depicted it for you.
42:26
But this film doesn’t really call that out.
It kind of just plays it straight.
What do you think about that the the switch between documentary and like actual events happening?
I’m fine with that, especially because like for the most part that doesn’t like there’s parts in the beginning where that happens, but mainly it’s, it’s the third act where that changes.
42:49
So after, you know, an hour in this 90 minute film, they, you know, switch from the, you know, the documentary to an actual like, traditional slasher because of the reasons within the film.
43:07
I’m fine with it because again, I think, you know, it’s playing out like how it wants to and it’s fun, you know, it keeps you on your toes and fun.
So yeah.
43:23
Yeah, I mean, I like it.
I feel like I kind of am torn.
Like I said, I’ve seen this a few Times Now.
I don’t remember feeling this way the last couple of times I watched this movie.
But this time I was just kind of thinking like, it is a little bit strange to me that there’s no like there’s no reasoning given.
43:43
It’s just kind of played out that way that we see the documentary and then we see the events play out.
And it kind of would make sense if it was all played straight as though we were watching this as a documentary.
And then they kind of said like these are fictionalized versions of the events displayed or something like that.
44:00
I guess I can understand both ways because then as the viewer, you would feel even further taken out of the events that are being portrayed, right?
So like the fear that the film is attempting to conjure, even though this is sort of like ours comedy, I feel like maybe you would lose some of that by saying these are like depictions of the events.
44:26
So I can see both ways.
I think at the end of the day, I’m fine with it kind of switching away from that documentary style.
But I did want to ask you too, how do you feel about this, like the actual slasher elements in this movie?
Do you think that it it works well like, because it it tries to circumvent some of the ideas of a normal slasher film.
44:43
And, and again, too, it sets up Leslie Vernon’s whole plan because he pretty much gives, you know, like basic, basic directions of like, I’m going to do this and then this, and then that’s just going to cause this and then I will do this.
And then during the course of that with the documentary crew interfering, it changes the whole plan.
45:03
What, what did you think about that?
Like did you respect the slasher aesthetic as it plays out?
Seriously.
Yeah, no, I because I think it’s like again, like there it’s like very much like Scream where it’s like, OK, here’s the meta contextual part of it.
45:22
So I was fine with it.
Like, and I think the slasher and like how they were kind of interacting with it as like a final third act for a slasher film.
I think it works fine and it’s, you know, enjoyable enough.
And it does have like the funny twist, like where our virgin is not the pure virgin.
45:39
She’s fucking riding some guy’s Dick reverse cowgirl until like dust that poor boys.
I hope they had Lube.
But like, like, I I agree.
45:55
Like I would have liked to see like the film finish on that and like keep going with that idea of the, you know, documentary.
But I understand why it abandons it and kind of leans more into the meta contextual aspects.
46:11
Either way, it’s still fun, and if you’re looking for like, gory fun slasher kills, they’re not here.
It’s the jokes that matter, you know?
And again, film was made on a $70,000 budget, so you can understand why you know, it was the the effects and budget did not go to that.
46:37
Right.
And I think it does a pretty good job.
I like the like the whole idea of Leslie sabotaging the weapons that kind of comes out later on in the film.
We’re like that’s.
Hilarious.
Yeah.
But he’s like, goes like, Oh yeah, I’ll leave him into the shed.
46:54
Well, what?
What happens?
Well, I already cut like, you know, cut that axe and you don’t have.
So after a swing it’s going to, you know, fall apart.
And I took that, you know, made that sledgehammer, you know, had loose and dulled down that pickaxe.
So you know.
47:10
And it’s like sort of that idea of like, trying to explain the more outrageous elements of a slasher film of like, why did that happen?
Why did this person have such bad luck?
It was like, no, it wasn’t bad luck.
It was because the killer was thinking, you know, 13 steps ahead of like, they’ll run into the shed and I will sabotage all the weapons and then, you know, can.
47:31
You imagine fucking Michael Myers sitting there like.
Just sitting there whittling away, I know getting everything prepared.
He’s like it.
Halloween is not the night that he came home.
It was like 15 days prior to where he had to get everything ready.
47:50
I also like the the whole like kind of bit about him having to do all the calisthenics and, you know, get, get all of his, you know, aerobics in because he has to be able to walk very fast and keep up with running people.
48:08
I think that’s great too.
I’m just like a play on that idea of like the killer keeps walking and they keep getting closer even though I’m sprinting away from them.
It’s it’s really great.
It kind of does it really, you know, It does a good job with it.
48:24
Infusing all that, what do you think about Robert England here, playing like the Doctor Loomis character who just love it randomly?
Thrilled love it.
What an inspired, beautiful idea, especially because like, like, how do you defeat evil Michael?
48:42
Michael, you know, poor, poor Dawn Pleasants is long gone from this ethereal plane.
So right, Like, what the hell were you doing, Rob Zombie?
48:58
You could have had Robert England as you know, Doctor Loomis instead of Sir Malcolm McDowell, who is a terrific actor who does it for everything, for the love of the for the love of the game.
I.
Would say that, you know, this is basically Robert England does a really good job of supplementing as Dino Pleasants here.
49:19
He looks the part he’s get.
You know he’s dead, basically.
What are you doing, you know?
Yeah.
You want to talk to them?
I love that whole library sequence too, where he like just starts shooting, like almost hitting, you know, the final girl there and, and then Leslie standing up on like the balcony.
49:39
It’s like kind of like framed like a deer in the headlights and he’s shooting at him.
It’s a great moment, but.
I do love to.
I do love to the fact that he hits him, he gets shot.
And then when they get back to like, like, how was it?
Oh, man, I got shot.
Are you OK?
Yeah, man.
We’re all with the plan and all with the plan.
49:55
Like, you know, it’s like really funny.
I love I I like I I think like it’s overall very effective and you know, again, just does a great job of, you know, cementing that meta commentary that it exists in sort of this weird universe where all these things come together.
50:16
I think having Zelda Ruben seen here too, where as like the sort of stand in Tangina character who just is spouting ridiculous exposition, you know, which is kind of the joke of it all to is like there’s this one librarian in the library who like knows everything about the back story of this serial killer that just gives it all to the main character.
50:38
It is really good too, because she you know, again, she had this this great voice and aesthetic that just made her really powerful character for poltergeist, and so it it makes sense to use that here too.
50:55
It’s again like a masterful decision.
Now there’s a lot of movies that are like Behind the Mask where they are low budget, made by people who obviously love horror movies and they basically just try to get anybody who who’s anybody who will be in the movie.
51:12
But here, it actually feels like Scott Glosserman was making specific decisions of who to involve in this movie rather than just going to like a horror convention and asking anybody who was there and like, oh, you were in a horror movie.
51:29
You want to be in our movie.
You know, this was actually like sort of inspired casting in my opinion, and not just like, random, I’ll ask this person.
So I think that works well as well as, you know, how they did it.
One of the other things I like too is when they show Leslie actually suiting up in there, kind of go over the fact that he’s putting on like this cream underneath his mask.
51:55
It’s like fire retardant.
And you know, like heels are like supposed to like make it so your blood vessels are like constricted so you don’t bleed as much and stuff.
To kind of make sense of the fact that like, killers can be wounded multiple times and still come back.
52:12
That nice prep H blend he’s got.
Preparation H constricts the blood best.
And he’s like, hey, we have my own fire retardant.
Yeah, it’s.
My own concoction and I guess one of the other things I wanted to ask is, so do you think that the slasher element towards the end for like the last 30 minutes or so, does it run on too long?
52:35
Because it it does have that element of like bringing the killer back again and again when he think he’s dead.
Does it run too long?
Or is it?
Is it just enough?
No, it goes too long.
I think the film would have been better if it let that last third of the film, the last, like, you know, part of it being like that if it was more like 20 to 15 minutes instead of 30 minutes and more of the documentary leading up to it because it does linger on for too long.
53:08
Like the constant like, oh, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly the virgin Kelly, Kelly.
What are they going to do about Kelly?
Oh, Kelly got like 10 minutes is dedicated to that.
And it’s boring, which is sad because I think, you know, Leslie in his, you know, serial killer garb, he looks great.
53:29
You know, overalls, you know, the mask, like being a frown.
It’s like a great little look.
He looks like, you know, like he’d beat the shit out of any of those remakes that came out in the mid 2000s.
So but I think it does definitely overstates welcome.
53:48
I get what they’re going for with like, you know, like moving away from that mockumentary style to like, oh, now, now we’re in it and like it being, you know, very meta.
It just goes on for too damn long though.
54:04
I agree.
That’s kind of why the reason I asked.
I do think it goes on just a little bit too long.
I think this could have been a pretty successful film cut down even to like an hour and 15 minutes, because I do think that the the, the actual full extent of it where Stan after a while, I think that it may be, you know, could have used just a little bit of editing here and there, especially the the actual slasher format towards the end could have been cut down just a bit where it wouldn’t have felt so long winded.
54:43
And that would have been like a perfect runtime for this movie as it stands.
Like I still think it’s fine at 90 minutes, but maybe just runs a little bit too long at the end and and and kind of overplays the slasher formula too to its extent.
55:03
Anything else I have to bring up here?
What you want to talk about, I think.
That’s about it.
So on a scale of zero to 10, you know, explicit and outrageous panty shots, shots as though this is a an anime, you know, an etchy and.
55:28
Oh.
No, I think it’s like 3 or 4.
Times that we get, Yeah, yeah, it does, you know.
Shot in here.
Listen, she’s wearing Ugg boots so she deserves.
What would you give?
Behind the Mask, The rise of Leslie Bruno.
I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.
55:44
I think it’s a lot of fun.
I think it’s a, you know, God bless the movie.
It’s like kind of like the little engine that could really should be more well known.
Maybe, you know, gangster in the horror community that you know, you honest, you know, know it as what it is.
56:02
But I think it should be like, you know, this should be something that’s like, you know, more talked about and more, you know, regarded because again, it’s a lot of fun.
It’s got some nice fun ideas.
It’s head and shoulders above the slasher shit that was coming out in the 2000s.
56:23
Even as a mockumentary, it’s like, you know, terrifically fun to watch.
And if you’re somebody who likes, you know, tongue in cheek, you know, 4 sole breaking humor straight up your alley.
Check it out.
56:39
So 7 out of 10 I liked a lot.
And Robert England like as like Doctor Loomis, hilarious.
He may be in the movie for like 6 minutes, but still hilarious.
And he’s, you know, wonderful.
I like I like this movie a lot as well.
I would probably give it a 7 out of 10 I think.
56:55
I agree with that.
I think that overall it’s very effective mockumentary style compared with the sort of like slasher meta commentary seems to work really well here.
The aesthetic I think is really good for Halloween as well, which we didn’t really talk about.
57:13
But I think like the overall fall, like, you know, kind of aesthetic that we see in the background, the all of the leaves and sort of almost looks like could be in October, November sort of situation in this movie.
57:31
It all works really well, sets up a nice mood to it, which this film kind of straddles the line between being a comedy and then just kind of going towards it’s more horror sensibilities kind of has both at times.
So I think that’s, you know, a benefit to it as well.
57:48
You can kind of watch it both ways, but I do think that the film can be quite funny and when it comments on some of the elements of like an actual slasher film and and how the killers act in those movies, I think the main characters do a really good job and play off of each other really well.
58:06
And overall, I think it’s just a really fun movie to watch and kind of enjoy the aesthetics that it brings in the slasher elements that it kind of toys with and and tries to play up and then circumvent.
And they they it’s pretty smart about how it does that.
58:22
So I think for those looking for a movie that’s not Scream with meta commentary, this isn’t a good one.
This is a good one to to try.
I’ve especially if you haven’t seen it before, because I do think that it is really under recognized.
58:40
You know, maybe people in the horror community know it a little bit better, but for most people it’s probably gone under the radar.
So definitely check it out.
I think it’s definitely worth a watch for most people, especially if you enjoy slasher type movies.
All right, so that’s our episode on Behind the mask next week.
59:01
I think we’re going to try to go in a little bit of a different direction than we’ve done so far.
I think it’s time to include the the the film classic that we wanted to, to do might be that time because I’ve been saving some of the other ones which are definitely more Halloween oriented as we get into the Halloween season.
59:22
So I think now is the time to do the classic and, you know, classic parody.
I think probably should give it away, but definitely interested in doing this and checking it out.
And it would be a definitely like a different kind of episode for us because we don’t actually do that many very old movies, you know?
59:47
That’s right.
I don’t think we’ve done many from this time period, so it will be a fun new excursion for us.
Not, I mean, it’s not like we haven’t seen movies from that time period, but we just haven’t covered them on the show.
1:00:06
All right, well, thanks for listening to our episode.
Hope you’re enjoying your Halloween season.
If you want to continue with our Ha Ha Halloween, you should subscribe to us on pretty much any podcast app that you can think of.
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1:00:22
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1:00:38
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1:00:55
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