Episode 173

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This week, after a cryptic announcement, Darryll reviews Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. He even lets Desmond say a few things! Then, Desmond slakes his thirst for blabbing with a Dying in the Gutters segment on Jason Aaron's Ghost Rider Omnibus. The following yuletide tunes should tide you over for the holidays: "The Biggest Killer in American History" by Bad Religion, "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads, "Ghost Rider" by Rollins Band, "Vigilante Christmas" by Kirby Krackle, and "Silent Night, Deadly Night (acoustic)" by The Browns! [ 59:51 || 27.6 MB ]

The above is from: http://www.earth-2.net/podcasts/dreadmedia/episodes/dreadmedia_173.mp3

[Guest]

Ooh. Can't wait to hear what you said about Leslie Vernon. I might be one of the only people that wasn't blown away by it.

[D-Man]

You weren't the only one, D.W.

Be sure to tune in for next week's episode of D-man Media when I'll be interviewing Desmond Reddick about the wholesale theft of his show and then I'll be reviewing LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring while Des whispers sweet nothings to his Troma DVD collection.

[Guest]

Found myself nodding along with everything Darryl said about Behind the Mask. It's an interesting waste of potential; too silly to invest in, but too serious to have fun with.

[Koete]

Found myself nodding along with everything Darryl said about Behind the Mask.

Which of course means I was shaking my head the whole time.

I love Behind The Mask, so I disagreed with a lot of what Darryl said. But like Des, I can see where he's coming from on several points.

I don't really see how Darryl sees it as conventional, however. It certainly uses conventions of the slasher sub-genre, but uses them in new ways as far as I can tell. The treating of the slasher as category of real life killer, the explaining of the supernatural aspects in realistic ways, and the documentary aspects all bring something new to the table. I also feel that while films such as Wes Craven's New Nightmare and the Scream series have dabbled in metafilm, Behind The Mask embraces it. If it was conventional, I would treat it with the same disdain I have for something like the remake of My Bloody Valentine, but I feel quite the opposite toward it.

In terms of the violence and gore, I appreciated how subdued it was. I think it's too easy for horror films to use blood and gore as a crutch, and not just for slasher films where the use of violence is the only reason to watch them. Daybreakers is an example of a film with a great premise that was abandoned for terrible CGI blood and guts. Behind The Mask was never a film only worth watching for its kills and the restraint on the violence reflects that. Also, the restraint on violence keeps in tendem with the degree of realism that is applied to the film. At the same time, I can see Darryl's POV of going completely over the top with the violence and calling attention to how ridiculous it is. I prefer the subdued approach, but I see merit in both.

I haven't seen The House of The Devil, but I've added it to my Netflix Instant Watch que and will see it soon.

[Guest]

See, I could go either way on the violence. I had more problem with the fact that the last twenty minutes of the movie demand that you rip the tongue from cheek to accommodate for the change in tone. For all the attempts at "realism", the concept in and of itself is patently ridiculous, and at no point does it feel like they've fully embraced that.

You're in a world where slashers are real, you've met up with a retired slasher, so the assumption is that the whole "mass murder" thing is one giant joke in this universe. Fine, own it. Go all the way with it. Don't suddenly hit a wall and tell me that murder is a big deal and Leslie needs to be stopped. You can't have it both ways, and I think that's what the film wanted.

I mean, great, it's meta. It needs to be more than that.

[Koete]

I watched Man Bites Dog this morning and Behind The Mask just dropped a couple notches in my book. It goes farther than the latter and has much more to say.