A fellow horror journalist named Eric (we’re a dying breed – literally, there’s a dude in a clown suit killing us off one by one) sent us a few links to his site Bloody Good Horror, pointing us toward interviews he conducted with BEHIND THE MASK writer David J. Stieve and “Leslie Vernon” himself Nathan Baesel. Most of the talk is regarding the possibility of a sequel – and how could Leslie aspire to be like his heroes if he didn’t come back for at least one followup?
Stieve talked frankly about the movie’s adequate – but not terrific – success and how it could effect a part 2:”I wish I could say that a sequel is inevitable, but I can’t. Hollywood just doesn’t have much room for absolutes. Had it done gangbusters business at the box office and gone “Blair Witch” or “Cabin Fever” or something, then yes, of course it would be different. And that’s not to say a sequel isn’t a possibility. But the jury’s still out on the business end of it. Buy lots of DVD’s, please!”
Baesel weighed on the prospect as well: “No approaches yet, I think the jury’s still out on whether we have a cult classic on our hands or not but the ball seems to be rolling in that direction. If the dvd continues to sell well then I’ll bet you they’ll start working in a new script if they haven’t already.”
“If the script was as good or better than the original, yes. I don’t like sequels as a rule generally and the last thing I want to do is MAKE a bad sequel.”
Click it HERE to check out both interviews!
On a critical note, I must say that while I enjoyed BEHIND THE MASK, I was seriously let down by its third-act. **some spoilers – don’t read unless you’ve seen it** The movie completely lost everything it had going for it when it switched formats to resemble a generic slasher flick. In my opinion, the filmmakers were being more faithful to the genre itself than to their own movie. I guess I understand the instinct to go in that direction, but the clumsy transition and “meh” results were a big disappointment, since there was much to like beforehand. (I also must admit that, on a technical level, I didn’t even find this section as suspenseful or competent as most of the FRIDAY THE 13th movies.) *end spoilers* Anyway, just thought I’d unleash a tiny rant.
Spit a few bullets below and let me know how all this tickles ya! (if it does at all…)