5 Horror Icons Who Never Got A Fair Crack At The Whip

4. Leslie Vernon (Behind the Mask the Rise of Leslie Vernon)

The fact that this guy has gone so long without being given a fair shot is tragic. I’ve waited years for a sequel to Behind the Mask and sadly I have been left wanting. Okay, so who is this guy? Well, Leslie lives in a world where all of the classic horror characters are real – Freddy, Jason, and Chucky and Leslie holds them all in high regard.

After moving to the town of Glenn Echo, Leslie discovers the legend of the Vernon family who owned the local apple orchard. Well, apparently they treated their son (who also happened to be named Leslie) like a slave and forced him to till the fields with only a sickle. After murdering his family the townsfolk turned on him, throwing him from the top of a waterfall into the water below where he was devoured by turtles. Leslie liked this story so he adopted the name Leslie Vernon and spread the idea that the Vernon son was still alive, haunting the orchard with his trusty sickle.

The film follows a documentary crew as they chart his rise from psycho in training to prolific serial killer, filming his meticulous planning as he builds his way towards massacring a group of teenagers at Vernon orchard. Over the course of the film the build up to the slaughter gets the crew more than a little excited, mainly because Leslie is just such a nice guy. He’s funny, charming and passionate and though his passions may be a little unsavoury, he takes a lot of pride in his work and it’s hard not to get sucked in by his enthusiasm. That is of course, until he starts slaughtering dozens of college students.

The switch from jovial, happy-go-lucky fanboy, to killing machine is quite the jarring character shift. When the mask goes on and the blades come out, there’s no mercy, and when they see the result of Leslie’s plans their consciences rear their ugly heads.

Behind the Mask was widely praised upon its release for its bending of genre conventions and the great performance from Nathan Baesel as Leslie. So why hasn’t there been a sequel? Well, I don’t know. There has been talk of one for years but nothing has surfaced.

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