Movie Details
| Title: | Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon | |
| Director: | Scott Glosserman | |
| Year: | 2005 | |
| Genre: | Horror | |
| Times Seen: | 2 | |
| Last Seen: | 03.18.06 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 03.18.06 | Alamo Downtown | This Screening is part of event: South by Southwest 2006 American Dreamz started so late that it was already 9:45 by the time We got back t omy car and I gave everyone's phones back. So since I missed the next movie (sorry, LOL), I went to Spaghetti Factory with everyone and hung out till the midnight movie. Behind the mask would make the perfect end to the fest for me. It was a movie that I really enjoyed the first time I saw it so I could sort of rely on it to be a positive experience, ensuring I don't go home with a bad taste in my mouth. Well the second time through, with the exhaustion of a few more festival days on my back, did have an effect... but for the most part I still really liked it. The director was really thankful and happy for all the good word his movie's gotten this week (he hugged Quint, I saw it), and a few people that worked on the movie were still in town for one last Q&A which was nice. I noticed a few more things in the movie but also saw a few loose ends that were never addressed (i;m thinking deleted scenes... hopefully there will be a DVD at some point). It was good though, a fitting end. So that's it. My first SXSW. A few stats (including the 1 shorts program I saw as a movie): number of films seen: 35 favorite movie: This Film is Not Yet Rated least favorite movie: Dance Party USA movie that made me laugh the hardest: Danny Roane movie that made me cringe the hardest: Hard Candy movie with the longest line: A Scanner Darkly movie with the shortest line: The Passing Show movies seen at: Alamo Downtown: 9 Alamo South lamar: 8 Paramount: 7 Arbor: 4 Convention Center: 7 Dobie: 0 |
| 03.12.06 | Alamo Downtown | This Screening is part of event: South by Southwest 2006 So I went downtown, actually found some parking, and made it to the Alamo in time to get a good seat. The director got up before the movie and started thanking his parents like he'd just won an Oscar. This was the first time that he'd publicly shown any of his work ever so it was a huge deal for him and he had lots of the cast and crew and friends in the house with him. Lucky for both him and me, the film was absolutely great. The first two thirds is a mockumentary with a small crew following around this guy who is planning on becoming the next Freddy Krueger or Jason Vorhees. It's a pretty hilariously meticulous deconstruction of the genre sort of similar to Man Bites Dog where the guy is talking about killing like it's a craft. He even has a mentor in the form of Mr. In Cold Blood himself: Scott Wilson (who was in the audience. I was a little starstruck and frantically thought of something to say to him but couldn't so i just gawked). Kane Hodder has a cameo as a resident of Elm Street. tons and tons of little in-jokes and referene pepper the film... apparently I missed most of them and would have loved to hear the director name them off but the shrill SXSW lady was rushing us out of the theater even though it was the last show of the night and still before 2 even... man i hate that. but anyway, every once in a while, as Leslie Vernon would outline his plan to torment his targeted "survivor girl" with cliched scenarios, the film itself would flip into a much more cinematic aesthetic. There's a great small role for Poltergeist's Zelda Rubinstein as well as Robert Englund himself. So the movie follows as a mockumentary until in the third act it becomes a self-aware horror movie in itself... there's a moment of unease there for me where I was like "uh.... is this gonna get dumb now?" but luckily it's done well enough that some actual tension starts creeping in with all the "wait, she's a slut not a virgin" jokes and "I think this is a bad idea, and I hate that I'm the one saying this in this particular context" jokes... so in the end the movie ends up having its cake and eating it too. Of course, in that sort of situation i always have little nitpicks when the characters don't do exactly what I would do (i.e. making 100% sure the dude is dead) but you know... it's sort of an Adaptation and Not Another Teen Comedy type deal... it may be self-aware but it's still in that genre. so this was a huge surprise for me... the filmmakers got a standing ovation, the entire sold-out audience went nuts for it... i think everybody loved it... I certainly did, and it completely made up for The Lost... good freakin' times. |
