Tuesday 26 November 2013

THE INCOMPLETIST - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon



DVDs I want to own but cannot find.  This time:  Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006), a post modern part-mocumentary slasher flick/slasher parody.




Status:  Discontinued.


Synopsis:
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon is a part mocumentary/part traditional narrative slasher film based on the idea that Freddy, Jason, Michael - all the slasher villains are real, exist in this one universe and Leslie Vernon is a first time slasher carrying on in their footsteps... and he's asked a documentary crew along to film his rise.

Think Cabin in the Woods (2012) or Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010) in terms of feel (but without anyone from Joss Whedon's Dollhouse or Firefly) as (mostly) a mocumentary.

Why:
OK, it's not a part of any film or TV series I want to complete, so there's really no completist urges to drive me to want this, but I'm a big fan of mocumentaries and of the self-referential film rule knowledge of films like Scream and Cabin in the Woods (for evidence of my love of film rule knowledge check out my Slasher Film rules exploration).

The Search:
I first experienced Behind the Mask via a in-the-mail-DVD-rental company and loved it in 2012.  However, no sign of it could be found in stores and the usually DVD places were silent on it.

Online fared no better.  The usual place searches came up empty.  Finally one place (see Status above) said it was discontinued.  Even the Madman (distributor) site comes up empty rather than saying it is discontinued.

There's an Australia ebay sale... of the a Region A DVD.

And Done Dirty Cheap DVD says it is available, however the fact that while it has the right synopsis, the cover and details are for the 1999 drama Behind the Mask, has left me a little dubious.

Of course hope remains that a sequel may bring the original back to attention and lead to a re-release.
However, the failure of the Kickstarter page for B4TM (Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon) makes that seem increasingly unlikely.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the reblog from the official tumbler for this film:

    http://beforethemask.tumblr.com/post/68259487749/the-tv-dvd-completist-the-incompletist-behind-the

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