Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon was a sleeper hit that no one saw coming in 2006. It barely played in any theatres and was then dropped on home video. But over time, it has built a fanatical cult following and is continuing to win new fans all the time. Based on the success of the original, director Scott Glosserman attempted to get a sequel/prequel (Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon. off the ground. But his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
A crowdfunding campaign was launched and an attempt at reselling copies of the Blu-ray was even made. But in spite of all of his efforts, Glosserman was unable to get the film made. Accordingly, the project was abandoned for some time. However, today we have some good news regarding the long-awaited follow up. It seems that we are closer now than we have ever been to seeing Leslie Vernon back on the screen. In an interview with MorbidMuch, star Nathan Baesel conveyed to the outlet that things are looking up! “The script is good,” Baesel said. “Really good. It plays on conventions of prequels/sequels as you’d expect but the vehicle of the story is really clever, even more so than BTM. B4TM is closer now than it’s ever been. I hope to have more word on that soon so keep hanging in there. It’ll be worth it.”
The original follows a documentary film crew as they follow notorious serial killer Leslie Vernon through his killing rituals.