For those not quite ready to leave the comfortable constants of Freddy, Jason and Michael, Behind The Mask could be just the film to ease themselves into something new. This gem of a mockumentary from 2006 sees a film crew following around the eponymous Leslie Vernon, a serial killer in training who took inspiration from all the classic horror icons (who, in the universe of the film, actually exist), and follows all the tropes and cliches of the genre in a similar post-modern fashion to Scream. There's even a cool little cameo by Robert Englund, Mr Krueger himself, who plays the doctor driven to hunt Vernon down. Along with said obsessed nemesis, ala Donald Pleasance's Dr Loomis from Halloween, Vernon goes out of his way to make sure his killing spree follows the exact plot of a standard slasher: he stalks numerous groups of virginial high schoolers until he finds the right ones, sets them up in a remote location, and is even prepared to die at the hand of the "final girl". It's darkly humorous in a similar vein to Scream, with the documentary style adding something to the picture rather than feeling like a gimmick, but things really rev up a notch and get genuinely frightening during the third act. No spoilers!
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
