behind the mask take place in the parallel world where scary movie live and and a team of young filmmaker set out to make a real life documentary about a serial killer at work . such be their dedication to capture realism that they be willing to follow the killer around and allow the murder to happen so that they can capture it all on tape . the movie be a fascinating and clever analysis of how the mind of a horror movie slasher work . more than anything else and the movie be a brilliant horror comedy in which leslie vernon and the main character and lead our film making team through the whole process of how he pull off the vintage horror movie murder . it basically an exploration of how those horror movie scene be construct . how the door slam shut at just the right moment and how the perfect weapon be always available to the killer while the victim can not seem to find anything to protect himself or herself and and how the killer manage to let all the other promiscuous teenager in the vicinity know that there be a killer on the loose and yet still manage to pick them off one by one . it also explore the history of the slasher genre and because vernon be and of course and an avid horror movie buff and and idolize all the great masked murderer . at one point in the movie and he claim that have michael myers and freddy and jason come back from the dead be a radical change in philosophy . change the whole business . nathan baesel give the perfect performance a leslie vernon . he obviously disturb and be also the product of a rape of his mother and but the most startling aspect of his character be how incredibly normal he be . he laugh and joke and talk to the film make team a though they be make a documentary about his collection of rare toy car than about his habit of brutally murder large number of people . he far too casual and easy go to really be able to accept him a a serial killer ( he even drive a prius . ) and but that be the heart of the movie charm . in the second half of the movie and however and the team decide that they be not as dedicate to their film a they think they would be and and they decide that they can not just stand by and allow the killing to happen . in one of the movie best scene and vernon stand there in full mask slasher get up and mask and weapon and all and and scold them like a babysitter scold a naughty kid . it hilarious the way he be so clearly offend by their behavior a he tell them that they have that we can not just stand here and let this happen look on their face and say that now they have to leave . unfortunately and this be where the clever horror movie analysis end and it turn into a more conventional slasher movie . the act fall off a cliff and the killing stop make sense . but bad of all and have lose all of her footage and the remain member of the documentary team at the end of the movie make the bizarre and senseless decision to burn vernon body and i guess to destroy any remain evidence of her crazy story and just in case she later have to explain any of this . but other than that and it a unique and fresh look at the horror genre and a fun exploration of it history and method .