8. Leslie Vernon Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon
This hidden gem of 2006 popped up out of nowhere with its refreshingly unique take on the horror genre. The film adopts the ever-popular perspective of found footage, which, although saturating the genre of today, breaks free from standard conventions by cleverly dissecting the usual tropes that make up a typical slasher flick. Behind The Mask sees a documentary film crew following the next big serial killer, Leslie Vernon, as he goes about preparing for his infamy within the paranormal serial killing community. Oh, and we should probably mention that in this world all of the famous horror killers such as Voorhees, Krueger and Myers actually exist. A scary reality indeed. The latter half of the film inspirationally alters our perspective from that of a low quality documentary into a fully-fledged cinematic horror. All of the methodical planning and preparation witnessed in the first half comes neatly together to form one of cinemas most unique homages to the genre. Although the actual killing that takes place in the film is intentionally reminiscent of the usual hack n slash, the fact that we get to see just how much precise planning goes into a successful murdering spree gives Vernon an abundance of well deserved creativity points. Quite honestly, killing kids has never looked like so much hard work! Memorable creative murder: Head being crushed in a cider press. Not carried out by, but orchestrated by Vernon and his meticulous planning.
