You probably know how much I love Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, so it should come as no surprise that I am psyched to hear that there’s some chatter of a sequel happening. Obviously the movie, which was Anchor Bay’s first theatrical release, didn’t burn up the box office, but I’m hearing tales of good sales of the DVD, which could lead to a continuation of the adventures of upstart serial murderer Leslie Vernon. What would he be doing next? Screenwriter David J Stieve tells Icons of Fright what the filmmakers are thinking:
I can tell you and your readers that there is a definite idea for what’s going to happen to Leslie Vernon next, that’s been the goal all along. Obviously the focus of that or the metaphor involved there, as it happened with Nathan as an actor or Scott as a director, or me as a writer, it’s how do you handle that ‘freshman phenom/rookie’ of the year type thing! That’s the symbolism at play; how does Leslie handle his success? And of course you have the whole genre-specific constructions and conventions of a horror sequel. There’s specific conventions involved with every killer that comes back. How the town reacts, who the people are that survive, and who fills what role coming around again, so there are all these very specific genre expectations for a sequel that are ripe for the picking but there’s obviously the metaphor of how does Leslie as the ‘artist’ handle his fame, does he handle it well, does he burn out too quick, keep himself in check, does he do it right? There’s a very rich soil to till from a storytelling standpoint.
Sign me up. If you haven’t seen Behind the Mask yet, do yourself a favor and click here to buy it from CHUD. Now when can I get my McFarlane Leslie Vernon action figure?
If there will be a sequel, it may have to wait for Scott Glosserman to finish his next film, which could be Playing House for Paramount Vantage. The film, about ‘a down-on-their-luck young couple who are preyed upon when they inhabit a seemingly deserted island mansion’ is being co-written by Glosserman and Macy Raymond, who wrote the story on which it’s based.