Welcome to the Scream Factory Crypt! In this binge series I will be watching all my Scream Factory titles I own alphabetically! Scream Factory is my favorite imprint of Blu-Ray’s because they take movies that studios and the public might not adore but have fans and deserve to be given respect. This will take a long time as I have over 120(!) titles and counting, I know I will have more before I finish, so stay tuned!  Not only will I talk about them on the podcast but I will review them here as well so you can see how I feel about aspects of each release. Part 9 is, Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon!

Ten years ago, Behind The Mask burst onto the horror scene. Part faux-documentary, part straight up slasher film, Behind The Mask was one unique film. In lesser hands this film would not work, but the cast and crew fully understand and appreciate the movie they are making.

Behind The Mask follows a film crew composed of three college kids, Taylor the overly eager reporter and her crew of Doug and Todd. They are following around Leslie Vernon as he prepares for the ultimate slasher night. Vernon has the mask, the set-up, plus he is working really hard on his cardio to prepare. Vernon is giving Taylor unprecedented access to him while he prepares. He introduces her to his mentor Eugene and his wife. He also tells her why he choose his specific victims and how he plans on murdering them.  The last 30 minutes of the film has a pretty great twist as Leslie’s plan unfolds, and things aren’t quite as they seem.

Behind The Mask is such a great horror film. The cast is outstanding. Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon is amazing. He has you laughing one minute and scared the next. He is able to weave in and out of threatening and goofy with great ease. Also “Final Girl” Angela Goethals is great as she soon learns that maybe interviewing and following around a serial killer is a poor career choice. The cast is also peppered with horror royalty, Robert Englund, Kane Hodder and Zelda Rubinstein to add more credibility to an already impressive cast.

The Scream Factory release of Behind The Mask sports a new HD master from the digital intermediate. The uptick from the DVD is immediately noticeable. Higher resolution and greater detail can clearly be seen. My only complaint is some of the documentary footage is out of focus. There are some points in the film where it is really jarring, especially when Leslie and Eugene are conversing at Eugene’s house.

The audio packs the right amount of thrills. The film oscillates between a documentary style to a more traditional horror film on the fly and the soundtrack reflects those changes as well.

Behind The Mask is a Collector’s Edition and it has a couple of great new features, the highlight being, Behind The Mask-Joys and Curses, a nearly 30 minute long retrospective with cast and crew. The Scream Factory release as carries over most of the extras for the DVD release including two audio commentaries. Be on the look out for an Easter Egg as well. Press left when Behind The Mask-Joys and Curses is highlighted and Leslie Vernon’s mask will appear, it’s cool I promise.

Behind The Mask-The Rise of Leslie Vernon is one of my most favorite horror films. I am over the moon that Scream Factory gave this movie the release it deserves, even if you own this film on Blu-Ray, Scream Factory’s new Collector’s Edition is worth the upgrade!

Film: A-

Video: B+

Audio: B+

Extras: A-

Overall: A-