In a world where slasher villains actually exist, a documentary crew follow an aspiring masked maniac as he prepares for his first professional kill.

Sometimes concepts that look good on paper should stay there. The idea of a killer being filmed, either by a crew or by himself, is one that’s played out numerous times to variable success. What made those movies work was the absurdity of the documentation playing off of the serious nature of murder, allowing the audience to ignore the ramifications of what’s happening onscreen until they’re so far in that they themselves are implicated in the crimes.

Based on fictional killers rather than real-life killers, Behind the Mask piles absurdity upon absurdity and somehow manages to make the sum more dull than the parts. Not unlike superheroes, evicting slasher villains from their fantasy world and bringing them down to our level robs them of what little interest they possess.

As if that weren’t enough, Behind the Mask has got to be the single most pedestrian slasher movie I have ever seen. I’m not sure if the filmmakers were attempting to pull a Lichenstein and deliberately make their film technically incompetent in order to overemphasize the failings of the sub-genre, or if they really have no talent for suspense. I do know that if you’re going to parody or emulate something you should at least attempt to match, if not better, the originals. And slasher movies don’t really set the bar so high that you’d think this would be impossible to achieve.

There are a few highlights. Robert Englund is wonderful as the obsessive Doc Halloran, though he’s criminally underused, and Scott Wilson and Bridgett Newton shine as a couple retired from the slasher game. I almost wish the movie had been about the three of them instead. I am grateful to Behind the Mask for one thing. It prompted me to watch some adequate slashers to remind me why I enjoy them in the first place.

For what are sure to be more complimentary views of Behind The Mask, make sure you check out the Final Girl Film Club.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.